


Foresight Is 20/20

by Miko



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-07-12
Updated: 2009-03-10
Packaged: 2017-10-21 10:07:48
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 69,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miko/pseuds/Miko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Forewarned is forearmed, but sometimes knowing in advance isn't everything it's cracked up to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Предвидение: 100 процентов](https://archiveofourown.org/works/7684591) by [Glowfish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowfish/pseuds/Glowfish), [Marlek](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marlek/pseuds/Marlek)



"Will you stop daydreaming and fucking pay attention?"

Startled, Lavi jerked his head up just in time to see the post he'd been about to run into headfirst. Throwing out his hands, he managed to catch himself against it and prevent his nose from meeting the very solid wooden object, but that didn't save him from the obvious irritation of his companion.

"You are such an idiot," Kanda muttered, glaring at him. "You're drawing attention to us. You've been in a daze all day, snap out of it!"

"Sorry, Yuu," Lavi apologized, far more meekly than was characteristic for him. He should have been laughing and making a joke at his own expense, maybe literally bouncing back from the near miss, but he just couldn't work up the energy. He moved around the post and followed after the other Exorcist, doing his best to stay focused on his surroundings this time.

"What is wrong with you, anyway?" Kanda said, disgruntled. "Even you aren't usually this much of a klutz. If there are any Akuma here, you're going to get yourself killed."

"Nngh. Yeah, I know," Lavi said, sighing and rubbing one hand against his aching eye. "I just can't shake this damned headache. Never felt anything like it. If this is a migraine, I suddenly have a lot more sympathy for the people that suffer from 'em."

Kanda was scrutinizing him, his eyes narrowed. He looked angry and irritated, but then again Lavi didn't think he'd ever seen Kanda _not_ looking angry and irritated. Presumably it did happen occasionally, but Lavi's very presence seemed to make those the default emotions any time the other man was around him.

"Here," Kanda finally said, thrusting a half-full canteen at him. "You're probably just dehydrated. Drink it."

"Why, Yuu. I didn't know you cared." From somewhere Lavi dredged up a sly smile, giving the other man a fluttering look better suited to a star-struck maiden. Kanda opened his mouth, but Lavi beat him to the lecture. "Yeah, yeah, I know. You just wanna make sure I'm not gonna be even more of a burden on this mission than usual, since I'm already hardly better than a useless lump."

Kanda scowled, apparently nonplussed at having the words taken right out of his mouth. Lavi made note of that as a potential strategy for derailing Kanda in the future. "Just drink the damned water."

Chuckling softly despite the way it made his head pound harder, Lavi uncorked the canteen and poured water into his mouth. It was stale and fusty from being in the leather container for so long, but since people in France seemed to believe that wine was far superior to water as a thirst quencher, it was the best he was likely to get. He gulped down a couple of mouthfuls, then recorked it and handed it back to Kanda.

Immediately he regretted drinking it, as it sat uneasily on his stomach and threatened to start a brawl with the stale bread and cheese he'd managed to choke down at lunch. Gritting his teeth behind a pasted-on smile, Lavi refused to allow his body to reject the liquid. Kanda was probably right, he _was_ dehydrated. He'd hardly been able to face the thought of food or drink all day.

"If I hadn't been with you for the last twenty hours straight, I'd accuse you of being hung-over," Kanda said, giving Lavi a sideways look that told him his attempt to act nonchalant about the state of his stomach had failed.

"Never been hung-over in my life, thank you very much," Lavi replied, making a face at the other man. "I dunno, maybe I'm coming down with a bug or something. Wasn't there a stomach flu going around the Order just recently?"

Kanda took two large steps away from him, which made Lavi chuckle again. "Great, that's all I need," Kanda sighed. "A partner who's incompetent _and_ sick. Don't give it to me."

"The way you heal? Prob'ly the only bug that could bite you is the Black Plague," Lavi snorted. "Never mind, I'll deal with it. At least there haven't been any reports of Akuma in the..."

Something flashed in the corner of his eye, and he spun on one heel, his hand flying to Oodzuchi Kodzuchi at his side. For one horrible moment he was certain he saw an Akuma's cannon aimed straight at his head, already fully charged and ready to fire. Every muscle in his body went tense, his instincts screaming at him. When he blinked the vision was gone, and all he saw was a very confused looking farmer staring back at him. He barely managed to check the swing of his hammer in time to keep from hitting the poor man. "Wha..."

"What? Did you see something?" Kanda had drawn Mugen and had assumed a defensive position, but hadn't activated it yet. He was scanning the crowd, with no indication that he'd seen the same Akuma Lavi would have sworn he'd caught a glimpse of.

"I..." Lavi looked around again, and his headache surged as the sunlight reflected off the metal side of another Akuma straight into his eye. His hand tightened around his hammer, but again when he blinked the Akuma was gone. A wave of dizziness struck him and he staggered, one hand to his head as he struggled to keep his balance.

"Shit. I think I'm seeing things," he muttered under his breath, his eye flicking rapidly over the people around them, now seeing flashes of metal throughout the crowd. Each was gone as soon as he'd found it, leaving him disoriented and uncertain.

Kanda hesitated, then reluctantly took one hand off Mugen's hilt and reached out to rest the back of his hand against Lavi's cheek. Lavi flinched away, even that light touch making his headache worse, but Kanda had already snatched his hand back with a dismayed and angry noise.

"You're burning up with fever," Kanda said, sheathing Mugen and relaxing his defensive stance. "Small wonder you're seeing things. Why didn't you say you were sick before we left the Order?"

"Because I wasn't sick then," Lavi protested, rubbing at his eye again. Was he feverish? He didn't feel warm to himself, but then he wouldn't, would he? "I've had a headache for a couple of days, but I haven't actually felt sick until now. Give me some credit, Yuu, I wouldn't've gone out if I'd known."

"Hmph."

Lavi wasn't sure if that was meant as grudging acknowledgement or just a general statement on his mental capacity. It didn't really matter. "Look, I'll just sleep this off and prob'ly be fine by tomorrow. I never get sick for long. No big deal."

Kanda shrugged and stalked off, looking like he didn't much care if Lavi was capable of keeping up with him or not. With a sigh Lavi headed after him, cursing his body for betraying him. In front of Kanda, of all people. The only one less forgiving of Lavi's shortcomings than Kanda was Bookman.

Movement to one side caught his eye, and he looked to see a pretty young girl with a basket of fruit on her arm approaching them. "Excuse me, sirs. Would you like some fruit?" she asked politely, holding her basket out to Kanda.

Another wave of dizziness swamped Lavi, but he fought to stay upright. As if time had suddenly slowed down, he saw Kanda start to turn and eye the girl suspiciously - too late, as a glowing cannon had already sprouted from her arm beneath the basket, the familiar whine of an Akuma's bullets echoing in the air as it fired.

Kanda was just a hair too slow to dodge, and the bullets struck him high on his shoulder. He grunted in pain and went down, black stars spreading over his body even as he scrambled to draw Mugen. The virus wouldn't kill him, Lavi knew, but if the Akuma blew his head off while he was down, Lavi didn't think even Kanda could heal that.

Time snapped back to normal speed and Lavi's stomach lurched, and he had to fight not to throw up. He groped for Oodzuchi Kodzuchi, knowing he was going to be too late. The hammer flashed to fighting size the moment his fingers closed around it, and he lunged forward...

"Excuse me, sirs. Would you like some... ah!" The girl - still completely human, just now walking towards them - shrieked when Lavi's hammer suddenly slammed into the ground in front of her. He nearly hit _Kanda_ , still standing and perfectly fine, and the other Exorcist swore and leapt out of the way of the blow.

The girl had dropped the basket and was screaming, her hands up in front of her face to protect her, and other townspeople were closing in with confused and concerned shouts. As far as they could tell, Lavi had just attacked a helpless girl completely unprovoked. Lavi wasn't sure just what the fuck was going on, but somehow he _knew_ the girl was an Akuma, and had to be destroyed before she could transform.

Shifting his grip on the hammer shaft, he sent it flying sideways to crash into her. This time her shriek had metallic overtones to it, and he saw the blue flash of the cannon in her hand charging in the instant before the hammer struck her. She exploded, the sure sign of an Akuma destroyed by Innocence.

"What the hell..." Kanda stared at him, stunned, but Lavi didn't have time to explain.

"Behind you," he shouted, spinning to lash out with his hammer at another Akuma trying to sneak up on their side. This one had already partially transformed, its cannons almost fully charged as it aimed at him. He blocked the bullets with the hammer head, then struck back hard enough to flatten it, vaguely aware that it was the same farmer that he'd earlier thought he'd seen transform.

Kanda had drawn Mugen just in time to block another attack from his rear, and then they were surrounded. There were at least half a dozen, maybe more; Lavi couldn't be sure of the count because he kept seeing their grotesque bodies, only to blink and find himself looking at a seemingly normal human. He didn't quite dare to attack the ones he wasn't sure of, so he stuck to defending and let Kanda deal all the damage.

Whether it was half a dozen or half a hundred, first level Akuma couldn't possibly hope to defeat someone of Kanda's calibre. The swordsman dispatched each one with ease as they transformed, until finally all that was left around them was a series of craters and ashes where the Akuma had been.

The rest of the townspeople had apparently fled in terror, and Lavi couldn't blame them. Hopefully none of them were Akuma; the monsters tended to be too stupid to think of dissembling like that, but there was a first time for everything.

With one last look around to ensure they were alone, Kanda flicked Mugen to the side to clean it and slid it home in its sheath. "How did you know?" he demanded, turning to Lavi. "That girl. She hadn't actually done anything suspicious. How did you know?"

"I..." Words failed Lavi, and he stared back at Kanda with his heart pounding in his throat. 'I saw her attack you' didn't exactly seem the right thing to say, not when it was obvious nobody else had seen any such thing. "I just... lucky guess?"

Kanda grimaced. "We can't afford to _guess_ , Lavi! What if she'd been human? Not everyone who comes up to an Exorcist is an Akuma. Sometimes they're just people too ignorant to know better."

"But she wasn't human," Lavi pointed out. The excuse sounded weak even to him, and he winced. Kanda was right, and he knew it.

"That's it," Kanda declared, making a chopping gesture with one hand. "You're off this mission. I'll handle it myself. I didn't need a partner in the first place, but Komui's almost as much of an idiot as you are. Go find an inn and sleep it off until you can tell reality from delusion."

Rubbing his eye, Lavi had to admit he didn't have much of an argument to offer. "You're prob'ly right," he admitted. "I dunno what the hell is wrong with me."

"Come on," Kanda said, and this time when he turned away he did watch over his shoulder to be certain Lavi was following. "And try not to attack anyone on the way."

* * *

The loud knock on the door dragged Lavi out of his feverish dreams, but it took him a moment to realize he was awake at all. When he forced his eye open he thought he saw Kanda standing there in the doorway scowling at him, but when he blinked he saw only the heavy wooden door. Then he blinked again and Kanda was back, with a ghostly outline of the door half obscuring him.

Groaning, Lavi turned and buried his face in the pillow. It was soaked with sweat, as were the sheets tangled around him. Although he always slept in at least his pants and shirt when on a mission, this once he'd stripped down completely. He was grateful he had, or he'd have been forced to finish out the mission in clothes that reeked of sweat and fear.

The knock came again, echoing painfully in his pounding head. "Yeah, what?" he rasped out, struggling to raise his voice enough to be heard beyond the door which might or might not still be closed.

There was a pause, then he saw Kanda sigh. Which was a feat, considering he had his eye closed and face still turned away. "I'm guessing you're not up to coming with me to hunt down the damned Innocence today, either," Kanda grumbled.

Lavi tried to sit up, and his stomach rebelled. He gagged and choked on bile, but managed to keep himself from throwing up. Barely. Not that there was anything left in his stomach; he'd lost everything yesterday after he'd first gotten to the room, and just the thought of dinner had sent him burrowing under his blankets in an attempt to hide from the world.

"No," he groaned, clenching his fists in the sheets as he fought for control of his body. "Fuck. I think... I'm even... worse." He had to force the words out between the pulsing of his headache, hardly able to focus enough through the pain to form the thought in the first place. "Sorry... Yuu."

"Not like you're much use at the best of times," Kanda said, but the imaginary Kanda in Lavi's mind's eye actually looked a bit worried. That made Lavi _certain_ it was just a hallucination, because the day Kanda was worried about _him_ was the day they all went ice-skating in Hell.

The hallucinatory Kanda hesitated a moment longer, but finally turned away and left Lavi to suffer in solitude. Lavi just lay there for a long while, drifting in and out of fever dreams.

He dreamed mostly of the other Exorcists. Allen was playing poker against a bunch of the researchers, with that wicked gleam in his eyes that promised no mercy to his opponents. Johnny was already down to nothing more than his boxers and his pearls, and Reever wasn't doing much better. Lenalee danced through the air, her Dark Boots giving her proverbial wings and trailing a path of death and destruction in her wake. The Akuma she danced with exploded one after another, providing a concussive counterpoint to the melody only she could hear. Krory was sitting in a cafe near the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, munching on a baguette and watching the world go by around him with wide-eyed innocence. Bookman's quill scratched over parchment, ink flowing smoothly onto the paper to form the symbols of the secret language of the Bookmen, capturing lives and battles into condensed strings that would be read by some future Bookman a thousand years away. The comforting sound finally lulled Lavi into something closer to a true sleep, familiar to him from hundreds of nights spent listening to his master do exactly that.

When he woke, he thought his fever might have finally broken. His headache was still there but much better, and the clammy sheets felt warm against his body instead of cool. Shuddering at the sensation, he untangled himself and staggered over to the stand with the basin and ewer. With shaking hands he poured water into the metal basin, splashing almost as much on himself as he got into the small tub.

The water was blessedly cool against his skin when he plunged his hands into it, and he sighed with relief as he splashed it onto his face. It dripped from his skin back into the basin, and he frowned. Was the water... pinkish? Had it been before? There was no reason for it to be, either in the ewer or now.

Lifting his hand, he rubbed his forehead and winced when his headache suddenly increased again. He looked at his fingers, and his eye went wide with shock and dismay. There were reddish-brown flecks on his skin, slowly turning the water droplets pink as they dissolved. Worse, he could feel something warm and viscous running down his cheek now, as if he'd flaked away a scab and reopened a bleeding wound. But he hadn't been injured in that fight. Had he?

His stomach clenched with something far worse than simple nausea, he looked up into the mirror mounted on the wall above the basin. It was dim and flawed, but more than clear enough to show him the blood crusting his bangs and the skin of his forehead. A fresh rivulet was trickling down over his face, bright red against his pale skin.

Frantic now, he splashed more water onto his face and scrubbed away the blood, uncaring of the renewed pain. When the water was red in the basin like a thin parody of blood, he finally looked up again.

This time there was nothing hiding the ugly marks that spread across his brow, marching over his skin like swollen stars. They were already seeping fresh blood, but he could see them clearly enough to know what they were. No Exorcist - and especially no Bookman - could possibly fail to recognize that pattern for what it was.

The Crown of Thorns stigmata... the Mark of Noah.


	2. Chapter 2

By the time they made it back to headquarters, all Lavi wanted to do was find a very deep hole and crawl into it, hopefully sealing it behind him so he would never have to deal with the world again. His head pounded abominably, sending little sparkles floating across his vision with each throb. At least his stomach had settled enough to let him keep bland food down, but the random 'hallucinations' were getting more frequent.

Oddly, the only time he got relief from the headache was when he removed his headband and the bandage he'd hidden beneath it to soak up the blood. When the stigmata was uncovered it stopped hurting him so badly, reverting to a dull ache. It didn't bleed as much, either, but it wasn't as if Lavi could go around with the mark openly displayed on his forehead for all and sundry to see.

Not if he wanted to survive five seconds longer than it took Kanda to notice it, anyway. He'd had one narrow escape already just as he'd been about to remove the headband to wash his face, when he'd had a sudden vision of Kanda running him through with Mugen. Sure enough, thirty seconds later Kanda had knocked briefly and shoved the door open without bothering to wait for Lavi's answer, and if Lavi had taken the band off there was no way he could have hidden the truth from Kanda.

And that more than anything else convinced Lavi that his 'hallucinations' were nothing of the sort. Somehow he was getting brief glimpses of the future an instant before it happened. If he concentrated he could see a short distance through walls and doors, and in his sleep he had visions of what the other Exorcists were up to that he was increasingly convinced were accurate. He didn't have much control yet, but he'd only just begun to awaken. The thought of how powerful he might yet become was dizzying.

Just what he was planning to do about it, even he wasn't sure. He couldn't hide forever, that much was certain. His only thought was to get back to Bookman, get his master's opinion and maybe find a way to slow or stop the transformation. If that failed...

If that failed... well, he was trying not to think about that. He knew _everything_ about the Order, including the current location of almost every Exorcist and general out in the field. If he went to the Noah it would be a disaster for the Order, and that wasn't even taking into consideration the likelihood that his powers were going to allow him to see just about anything. A blow like that could mean the end of the war. Lavi would fight Noah's control with everything he had in him, but what little the secret histories had to say about it didn't offer much in the way of hope that he could beat Noah in the end.

"You seem better," Kanda said grudgingly as they rode the elevator up the inside of the mountain. Lavi was leaning against the wall to keep himself on his feet, sweating hard and probably pale enough to look half dead. But Kanda was right, because being able to stay on his feet at all was a distinct improvement.

"Yeah, but I think I'd better avoid everyone for a while," Lavi said, grateful when his voice came out only a little shaky. "I'm just glad we weren't attacked by Akuma again on our way back." He had a sneaking suspicion that the lack of attacks had something to do with his nascent transformation, but he wasn't mentioning that part. Let Kanda continue to assume he'd been useless this whole mission.

"Hmph. I could have handled it." Kanda gave him a dismissive look. "Are you going to be able to make your report to Komui?"

"I think I can handle that much," Lavi agreed cautiously. "But then I'm gonna go crawl into my bed and not come out for a week." At least here there wouldn't be any images of hidden Akuma jumping out at him every time he scanned a crowd. It was sort of like a less nauseating version of Allen's curse... but all things considered, Lavi would have preferred to have the curse.

In fact, by the time they made it to Komui's office Lavi was actually starting to relax. He'd gotten nothing more than brief flickers no matter where he looked, and most of that was just a quick peek at what lay behind the closed doors they passed. The more he relaxed the better the headache got, too. He might yet get through this.

"Ah, good, you're back," Komui greeted them the moment they entered his office, looking up from the small robot he'd been fiddling with. Nuts and bolts and random bits of metal were scattered over the stacks of paper that littered the desk, and as usual the paper piles were spilling out all over the floor as well. Some things would never change, at least; Komui would always be adept at finding excuses to avoid doing his paperwork.

"We - _I_ \- got the Innocence, and we were only attacked once," Kanda said, pulling the box that held the Innocence from inside his jacket. "Lavi got sick halfway through, and..."

Lavi lost the rest of what Kanda was saying, because the moment he focused all his attention on Komui he was struck by the strongest vision yet. A younger-looking Komui, dressed in traditional Chinese clothes that looked like they'd seen better days, stood with his hands clasped so tightly behind him the knuckles were white. The room was much neater, almost obsessively so, and Lavi didn't recognize the man sitting behind the desk where Komui should have been.

"Let me try," Komui pleaded, his desperation clear. "I'm all she has left. I'll do anything you want, but let me stay with her, please. Let me _see_ her, at least. What do you have to lose?"

Lavi blinked rapidly and shook his head, trying to clear away the vision. It faded, but to his horror it was immediately replaced by another one. A dark chamber, stone walls grey and gloomy, with nothing inside it but a single bed. Lying on the bed - no, _tied_ to the bed - was a girl, hardly more than a child, with long green hair straggling over the pillow. She was much younger than she had been when Lavi had first met her, but there was no mistaking Lenalee's younger self. Her green eyes were open, but held a curiously blank look that made him shiver, as if there was no soul behind them to give them light and life.

Komui came in through the single door, dressed in the familiar white uniform that marked him as head of this branch of the Order. "Lenalee!" he exclaimed, hurrying to his sister's side. "Lenalee, it's okay, I'm here..."

Slowly she turned her head, and a spark of hope so faint it made Lavi ache showed in her eyes. "Older... brother?"

Desperately Lavi shut his eye and willed the vision to disappear. This was too private, too intimate. He didn't want to see these things, didn't want to see Lenalee looking like that.

"..vi! Damn it, he's not responding. Kanda, see if you can find Bookman, I'll..."

The distant sound of a familiar voice gave him something to latch on to, and Lavi hauled himself back to the present with an effort of will. "I'm fine," he rasped, forcing his eye open again and looking up in a daze to see Komui and Kanda bending over him. He was sitting on the floor, sprawled over the papers as if he'd just collapsed where he stood, and the room was swimming faintly in his vision. Komui looked worried, and if Lavi hadn't known better he'd have thought there was a faint hint of concern in Kanda's eyes as well. Maybe the other Exorcist was just worried that he would catch whatever was ailing Lavi.

The thought made him have to stifle an entirely inappropriate and rather hysterical burst of laughter. Lavi was fairly certain this was one illness that wasn't catching... but who knew? Not even the Bookmen were sure what it was that caused someone to become a Noah.

"Like hell you're fine," Kanda said, scowling at him. "You just fainted, or something."

"All right, I'll _be_ fine, if you wanna argue semantics," Lavi replied, rubbing gingerly at his temple, careful not to dislodge his headband or reveal the bandage beneath. That would raise questions he absolutely did not want to have to face right now. He needed to talk to Bookman, and _not_ in front of a crowd of other people. "I didn't faint, just got dizzy for a second. I just need rest, damn it."

"Go get some sleep, Lavi," Komui said, offering him a hand up. "I'd rather have you back in fighting condition as soon as possible, so don't push yourself. Kanda can give the rest of the report. "

"I did all the work anyway," Kanda agreed, turning away.

Ignoring the offered hand, Lavi hauled himself to his feet, careful not to look directly at either of the other men. The last thing he needed was to trigger another vision. "Sorry, Yuu," he murmured, shaking his head to try to clear it. "Even I'll agree I was pretty useless on this one."

Kanda glanced back over his shoulder and snorted, but his scowl lessened faintly. "Just go sleep it off, or you'll be even more useless next time."

"Do you want me to call Johnny or Reever to help you back to your room?" Komui asked.

Lavi blanched at the thought. He wasn't sure, but he had a sneaking suspicion that close contact would make it even harder to keep the visions at bay. He didn't particularly want to know the details of the most significant moments of Johnny and Reever's pasts. "I'll manage," he assured Komui hastily. "Just send Bookman my way if you see him, will you?"

"Will do," Komui agreed, and waved him off. "Go on, before you fall over again. You look terrible."

Lavi managed to give him a reasonable approximation of a jaunty salute, and staggered out the door. Somehow he made it back to his own room, mostly by keeping his eye closed and navigating by memory. It was lunchtime, so most people were safely in the cafeteria on the other side of the building, and he made it the whole way in blessed solitude.

Once inside he closed the door firmly behind him, and reached for his headband. The bandage beneath was soaked right through, turning the white linen dark red. The moment it was off, he breathed a sigh of relief as the pounding in his head eased considerably.

Despite the amount of blood on the bandage, there wasn't that much on his face when he washed it clean. The stigmata were hardly bleeding at all as long as he left them uncovered, so he reluctantly decided to leave his head bare for the moment. He dampened a cloth and set it next to his bed, so he could grab it and cover the marks with it if anyone came in. He stripped down to his drawers and climbed into the bed, hauling the covers over his head in a futile effort to block any further visions.

They came despite his best efforts, responding to his thoughts like puppies eager to please him. No matter who or what he thought about, he would get a flash of an image in response, sometimes fading almost before he'd grasped it and sometimes lingering until he despaired of ever ridding himself of it. The clarity and length of the vision seemed to depend on the strength of emotions attached to what he was seeing.

Trying to clear his mind of thoughts was rather like trying not to think about pink elephants. The harder he tried, the more his mind raced over the thoughts he was attempting to avoid. He'd never been very good at meditating, but this was worse than usual even for him. At least it hadn't been this bad when Kanda had been there to see him...

The thought of the other Exorcist brought another vision, the clearest one yet. Lavi was looking up into Kanda's eyes as the other man leaned over him... no, as Kanda _pressed against him_ , their naked bodies twined as close as they could get, sweat easing the friction as they thrust together...

Shocked, Lavi tried to force himself back to reality. All of his other visions had been true as far as he could determine, but this one _had_ to be wrong. There were absolutely no circumstances he could imagine that would put him in this position with Kanda, especially not now that he was awakening as a Noah. But the vision persisted, wrapping him up in it until he could hear and feel and taste it as real as if he was experiencing it right that moment.

"Lavi," Kanda groaned, dispelling any doubts Lavi had about whether he was really seeing Kanda having sex with _him_. For once the expression on the swordsman's face wasn't irritation or anger; it was pleasure so close to pain that the line between the two blurred. There wasn't much light, but Lavi could see the hint of tears in the other man's eyes, as if the pain went far deeper than the pleasure. "If you ever... again... I _will_ find a way... to kill you..."

Lavi wasn't sure what it was he wasn't supposed to do again, but he didn't want to find out. He wrenched his whole body to the side, trying to physically throw himself out of the vision. Something sharp sliced across the vulnerable skin of his throat, and for a moment it felt like he was choking on blood.

Then the vision was gone, pain and all, and he was lying alone in his own bed. Panting, Lavi tried to make sense of that vision and failed utterly. There was no way _he and Kanda_ would ever... there was just no way, and that was an end to it.

His body disagreed, aching with unfulfilled lust and desire. Lavi was more than familiar with the needs of his own body; not even the strenuous discipline required of a Bookman could change the fact of eighteen-year-old hormones. But he'd never felt anything quite like this before, as if he'd been reaching for something incredible and had it snatched out of his grasp, leaving him empty and wanting.

Instinct demanded that he reach down and at least finish what he'd started, but he was afraid doing so might throw him right back into that vision. He closed his eye and started reviewing the oldest of the secret histories in his mind, focusing fiercely on that to keep himself from thinking about anything else. His new powers gave him fascinating glimpses into the battles that had until now been only dry words on a page, and that helped to hold his attention until the ache in his body had subsided at last.

Eventually a brisk knock at the door broke his concentration. Lavi didn't need the image that popped into his mind to know it was the Bookman outside his room; he'd have known that knock anywhere. He scrambled for the cloth - he'd rather break this news to his master his own way, rather than just having it right out in the open. "Yeah, come in," he called, wincing at the renewed pain of his headache.

"Komui said you were ill," Bookman said, coming into the room and shutting the door behind him. He was frowning, but it was an expression of irritation rather than worry. "You're hardly ever sick, certainly not to the extent he described. What happened?"

Lavi opened his mouth to explain, and the words stuck in his throat as another vision consumed him. He was lying on the bed like a broken doll, pinned to the mattress with a hundred needles like a sick parody of a butterfly on a board. The cloth had fallen, clearly displaying the marks of the stigmata. He could feel a trickle of blood at the corner of his mouth, and more bubbling in his lungs making it impossible to breathe. Bookman stood over him with a faintly disappointed look, more of the Heaven's Compass needles poised and ready in his hand.

"What a waste," the Bookman murmured, shaking his head and turning away.

With a gasp Lavi slammed back into the current moment. Bookman was just starting towards him with a concerned look, and the cloth was still safely over the marks on his brow.

Shuddering at how close he'd just come to making the biggest mistake of his life, Lavi waved his master away. "Don't," he croaked, fear making him sound convincingly ill. "Don't want you to catch this, too. Some kinda horrible stomach flu, I think. I'll be okay once I get some rest."

"I should check your qi flow," the old man started, but Lavi shook his head.

"Bookman, _air_ feels painful against my skin at the moment. Don't think I can handle having needles shoved into me, no matter how careful you are. Gimme a couple days to recover, then you can look me over."

His master hesitated a moment longer, but finally nodded. "You know where to find me if you need me. Don't neglect your logs, boy."

"I won't," Lavi promised weakly, and waited with every muscle tense as Bookman turned away. If the old man changed his mind, decided to insist on examining him...

But the Bookman left without another word. For once Lavi made use of his new powers without a qualm, watching through the wall as the old man walked down the hall, and he didn't relax again until even he couldn't see his master any longer.

With an explosive sigh Lavi collapsed down onto his pillows, feeling like every muscle in his body had turned to water. He was an idiot, and he'd forgotten the most important tenet of their clan. The Bookmen had no hearts, did not allow emotion or sentimentality to interfere with their judgement in any way. As an awakening Noah, Lavi was a threat to the Order and even to the Bookmen. The odds that they would find some way of reversing the awakening now that it had begun were slim to none. Bookman _would not take that chance_.

He would remove the threat before Lavi became too powerful to be stopped, and his only regret would be for the loss of nearly two decades of training and the effort of finding a new heir.

Shivering, Lavi huddled under his blankets and hugged himself tightly, trying to figure out what he should do next. If he were smart, if he obeyed his own training as a Bookman, he would turn himself over right now. Bookman would be _right_ to kill him. The Order couldn't afford the risk that Lavi would turn on them. And turn on them he almost certainly would, once Noah's power had manifested fully within him.

Automatically he reached out, groping with one hand outside the blankets until his fingers encountered the familiar form of Oodzuchi Kodzuchi, placed within reach on the bedside table in a habit he'd formed in the first weeks he'd possessed it. He pulled it under the blankets with him and curled around it, and for once focusing his attention on something didn't cause any visions to overwhelm him.

Its weight was comforting in the palm of his hand, and he imagined he could feel reassurance radiating from it. His Innocence, the thing that made him an Exorcist. His Innocence...

Abruptly he sat up, spilling the covers off him as he stared at the hammer. Innocence. The one thing that could harm a Noah. When an Exorcist betrayed his Innocence, he or she became a mindless monster known as a Fallen, destroying everything in their path until finally they were overwhelmed completely by its power. If he was a Noah, shouldn't the Innocence be rejecting him?

Just to be sure he still could, he activated the hammer and expanded it to fighting size, resting it across his lap. It reacted willingly to his mental commands, and when he activated the second level the familiar green ring of symbols floated obediently around him. He dismissed it without actually casting a spell, and the hammer shrank back to its normal size in his hand.

Looking up, he checked his appearance in the mirror hanging on his wall. The stigmata still showed clearly behind his mussed bangs, red and raw like the open wounds they were. His skin was still pale, his eye still green instead of golden, but all of that would come later. From what the secret histories said, the full change could take days or even weeks.

Would his Innocence reject him eventually? Would he become a Noah and destroy it, or would it cause him to Fall first? Neither was a particularly appealing prospect, but even so the feel of the hammer in his hands comforted him in an obscure fashion. He was still himself, still Lavi the Exorcist, at least for the moment.

How long that would last remained to be seen.


	3. Chapter 3

One thing was certain; as much as he wanted to hide in his room and pretend the rest of the world didn't exist, sitting around brooding over his problem was getting him nowhere.

Lavi pummelled his brain for ideas, going over every mention of the Noah in the secret histories half a dozen times looking for clues. There was nothing. What little the Bookmen knew about the transformation process was third-hand at best, records of conversation with people who had known someone who had seen the beginning of a transformation. Never from someone who had actually seen it happen; anyone nearby at the end of the process seemed to end up as some sort of controlled slave to the Noah that wasn't quite like any description of an Akuma that Lavi had ever heard.

What he needed was more information. It was barely possible that Bookman knew something about it that he hadn't taught Lavi yet, but that was clearly not an option. There was one other potential resource, however: The Black Order itself. All he had to do was wait until the middle of the night, when he would be able to work uninterrupted.

It felt a little weird to be deliberately using his new powers, but Lavi closed his eye and sent his thoughts roaming through the halls of the Order, keeping an eye on who was where. It was kind of fascinating, really, though a few times he quickly skittered away when he realized he was seeing something private. Finally almost everyone had settled in for the night, and the coast was clear.

Quickly Lavi got dressed and headed for the library, still using his powers to make certain he didn't run into anyone. Twice he had to take an abrupt detour, but he made it to his destination without being spotted. He had it to himself at this hour, of course, and he headed straight for the back area where the Order's most top-secret files were kept.

One of Bookman's conditions for the two of them joining the Order had been that he and Lavi were to have access to everything in the Order's files. When both of them had turned out to be Accommodators Komui had happily granted them permission, and so Lavi had one of the few keys to the back rooms of the library that existed.

At least the lock meant nobody else would interrupt him unexpectedly. A quick check showed that Komui was sound asleep, and Reever and Johnny looked fully occupied by what they were working on at the moment. They were unlikely to have a sudden need to check on old information that wasn't in their files. Bookman was safely in his room, working on his logs.

Inhaling deeply, Lavi let the familiar scent of dust and old paper surround and comfort him. He loved libraries and always had, and in some ways the time spent doing research instead of out observing first-hand on a battlefield was his favourite part of being a Bookman. Unfortunately they'd been kept so busy, out on missions all over the continent, that they'd hardly had a chance to scratch the surface of the wealth of information contained here.

He wasn't even certain that what he was looking for - a way to slow or stop his transformation - existed at all, let alone was contained in these files. But the Order had known _something_ about the Noah's Clan even before Bookman had come along and grudgingly given them information from the secret histories. And he had to start somewhere.

Trailing his hand lightly over the brittle leather bindings, Lavi picked a book at random and opened it up. It proved to be one of the earliest Vatican records of Akuma sightings, which actually wasn't a bad place to start. Leaning against the nearest bookcase, Lavi settled in to read.

To his astonishment, the words seemed to leap off the page at him and turn into pictures. He could _see_ the half-transformed level one Akuma that stood before the priest who'd written the account, the human skin it wore warping and breaking under the pressure of the change. Within moments it had finished the transformation and its deadly cannons were charging. Screaming townspeople scattered before it, many running for the presumed safety of the church.

If he concentrated hard Lavi could see the Latin on the page like a sort of ghostly overlay, but although the image matched what the writer described, the words gave only the barest bones of the whole picture. The rest of the book contained more of the same; accounts of Akuma and where they'd been sighted, descriptions of the various powers that had been attributed to them, and wild theories about what they actually were. Most were so far off the mark that Lavi had to stifle laughter at some of them. Fallen angels, indeed.

Putting that book away, he pulled out the next and found it was an account of the first encounter with Innocence, written by the man who would eventually become the first Exorcist. That was equally fascinating but just as useless for his purposes, and with regret Lavi shelved it again with a promise to himself to come back and read through everything properly later.

This was interesting, but getting him nowhere. There were hundreds of books in this room, and he didn't have time to go through them one by one at random. Eyeing the shelves, Lavi decided to try something different. He thought very hard about what he was looking for: information on the Noah's Clan, particularly anything to do with the transformation from human to Noah and what caused it.

He wasn't sure just what he was expecting. Maybe for one of the books to start glowing or otherwise jump out at him as the one he wanted. For a long moment he thought nothing was happening, but then he realized that as he scanned the room his gaze was being drawn back to one particular shelf again and again.

Moving forward, he concentrated on that spot. Now it was a specific book that he had to force himself to look away from. Picking it up with trembling hands, he flipped it open to the first page.

He hardly needed to see the image that came to him to know he'd hit the jackpot. It was an account by an elderly priest of a young man that had come to him displaying marks of the stigmata, in terrible pain. Lavi didn't even bother to read it, just watched avidly as the events played out in his mind's eye. It was obvious he was witnessing the birth of a Noah, and just as obvious that it was exactly the same sequence of events that were now happening to him. The book cut off abruptly, one journal entry ending and nothing but blank pages after that, but the vision continued to play out in Lavi's mind after the priest's untimely death.

Absorbed by the record, Lavi barely noticed the threads of vision that tried to intrude on him. He brushed them away absently, keeping his focus on what was happening to the Noah in the past. Likewise the sound of a key scraping in the lock only distantly registered in his mind.

"Lavi? What are you doing out of bed?" Bookman demanded, and the old man's voice jerked Lavi abruptly out of the past.

He slammed the book closed in a reflexive attempt to hide what he was up to, and spun to face his master. Too late he remembered he hadn't put his headband back on, since he'd intended to avoid being seen and it was easier to think without the pressure of the headache.

Bookman's eyes widened, and Lavi had a flickering vision of half a dozen needles embedding themselves in his chest. Instinctively he threw the book up to shield himself, and Bookman's shock had kept him from reacting just long enough that Lavi successfully blocked the needles.

"Bookman, wait," Lavi said desperately. "Damn it, hear me out!"

"You weren't ill at all, were you?" Bookman said. His eyes narrowed as he faced his heir, more needles held ready in his hand.

"You think I asked for this?" Lavi retorted, peering cautiously over the cover of the book, ready to block any further attacks and hoping he would see them coming in time. The Bookman was damned fast for an old man, and the Heaven's Compass was far more powerful offensively than most of the Order would ever suspect. Lavi could use his hammer to protect himself, but he'd rather not take that step if he didn't have to.

"Stand down, boy," Bookman ordered, his voice gruffer than usual. "You know as well as I do what must be done. There's no stopping it now."

"We don't know that!" Lavi protested. "Damn it, Bookman, we don't really know _anything_ about the Noah except what we've gotten from third-hand accounts at best. Maybe Noah doesn't take over completely. Tyki Mikk has those human friends that he hasn't killed. What if I can fight it, and use this power for the Order?"

Bookman still hadn't attacked again, and Lavi dared to hope he was getting through. "You don't know what this could mean, old panda," he said eagerly, trying to appeal to something he _knew_ mattered to the man. "I read a historical account and I can _see_ what happened, just as if I was standing right there. Think about what that could mean for the secret histories! We've always been handicapped because we can only be in one place at a time. And Noah are practically indestructible, I wouldn't have to worry about the whole history of the Bookmen ending because I caught a stray bullet somewhere on a battlefield some day."

He'd lowered his makeshift shield too far; another vision warned him, and Lavi flung the book away from him to intercept the path of the needles that were coming. That confused Bookman and blocked his aim for a critical moment, allowing Lavi to snatch his hammer from its holster and activate it.

"Don't do this, Bookman," Lavi pleaded. He could _feel_ the power of the Innocence running through his hammer in a way he'd never been able to before, and a vague tickle against his skin had to be the feel of Bookman's Innocence. He knew, without needing to think about it, exactly how to reduce the weapons to their element form again. He also knew, with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, that all it would take was a bit of concentration and he would be able to crush them to powder.

But he didn't want to destroy them; he just wanted to defend himself. He swung the hammer up to block the next rush of needles, then spun and dropped it low to one side to deflect the blow Bookman had tried to sneak in under his guard. It was like a dance, a deadly tango that Lavi had almost complete control over. He could see what Bookman was going to do an instant before it happened, and that was just enough warning to let him counter every move.

"Your judgement is impaired," Bookman snapped, sidling along one wall in an attempt to get around Lavi's defence. "Noah is already taking control, or you wouldn't be fighting me like this."

"If Noah had me, I still wouldn't be fighting like this. I'd have destroyed my Innocence and be coming after yours," Lavi said, turning slowly in place to follow his master's movements. The space in this room was tight and his was not a defensive power in any way, shape or form. His best defence had always been a good offence, but he didn't want to hurt the old man.

"Don't make this any harder than it has to be," Bookman said, and reached into his jacket. Lavi didn't need the sudden vision of being pierced a thousand times to know what was coming next. "Needles of Spells: North Crime!"

"Ten ban!" Lavi shouted at the same moment, his heart aching with grief and regret as he activated his second level spell. Lightning crashed down around them both, deafening in the small space. Most of it was drawn to the tiny bits of metal that were the Bookman's needles, smashing them to the floor. Some hit the old man directly, and Bookman cried out as he went down beneath the onslaught.

The paper and parchment of the files was tinder dry after dozens or hundreds of years in storage, and all it took was a few stray licks of lightning to turn them into kindling. Fires sprang up all around the room, and Lavi felt sick at the horrible waste. So much information that would now be lost forever, because of him.

Taking his chance while Bookman was down, he turned towards the door. Something held him in place, a growing pressure in his mind that urged him to... to...

 _Destroy_ , it whispered, a thread of pure rage and hatred that burned through him like a lash of fire. _Exorcist. Innocence. Destroy!_

"Like _hell_ I will," Lavi snarled, recognizing the pressure for what it was. Noah had finally gained enough of a hold on him to make his presence felt. Lavi had no intention of following Noah's directives, but he couldn't stay here.

He lost precious seconds fumbling with his key, and he was coughing from the smoke by the time he finally unlocked the door and stumbled out into the main library. He dragged Bookman along behind him, unwilling to leave his master to die in the fire, but dropped the old man as soon as they were out of the small room. The fire would spread, but somebody would come running shortly to try to deal with it, and they would be able to help Bookman. Lavi _had_ to get out of there before anyone showed up.

More time was lost as he fished his headband out of his pocket and slipped it on. Immediately he gasped and staggered from the sheer pain pounding through him. The stigmata did _not_ want to be covered, and he could hardly function. Unfortunately he didn't have a great deal of choice in the matter.

His luck ran out in the hallway. The sound of the thunder had drawn people to the area, and Kanda was heading towards him at a run with half a dozen researchers right behind him. "What the hell is going on?"

"Fire," Lavi gasped. In what was already becoming a reflex he tried to see what would happen next, but all he could feel was the pain. "Bookman's still in there, you have to..."

 _Innocence. Exorcist. Destroy!_ Noah insisted in his mind, and Lavi hissed under his breath. Almost too late another vision hit him of Kanda attacking with Mugen. Lavi threw himself to the side and felt the razor-sharp edge of the Innocence brush over the surface of his jacket. He could feel the fire of its energy from this distance, like a prickling burning sensation over his skin. It sent little tendrils up Kanda's arm and into his chest, binding itself to the other man's very soul.

"Yuu! What are you doing?" Lavi demanded, hastily checking to make sure his headband was in place. Not that he needed to, not when his headache was so bad, but it was the only explanation. "Why are you attacking..."

Then he saw his own hand, and he didn't need to ask any more. The skin was a dusky grey only a few shades lighter than his black half-glove, and his nails were ebony. No wonder Noah's voice inside him had grown so strong; the transformation was almost complete. Hysterically Lavi wondered if his eye was still green, and if so how long that would last. What _difference_ did it make? There was no hiding what he was now.

Kanda slashed at him again, and this time Lavi got his hammer up in front of him in time to block. He backed up and Kanda followed him, pressing the attack at every opportunity. Lavi had never seen the other man fight so fiercely, and even knowing what was coming he was hard pressed to defend himself.

There was no point in trying to talk his way out of this. If it had been Lenalee or even Allen, maybe he could have made them see reason, but Kanda was as stubbornly bent on destroying him as Bookman had been.

Now several dozen feet behind them the researchers were milling about, confused and helpless. A few had organized themselves enough to rescue Bookman and start to try to put the fires out. _Reach out,_ the same voice from before urged him. _Touch them with your power. Make them yours._ Just one touch and they could be turned from enemies to allies, just as that other Noah in the past had turned the priest...

With a horrified cry he lashed out with his hammer, desperate to get away before he did something that couldn't be fixed. Bookman could still be saved, but if he touched those people with the power of Noah they would be _worse_ than dead.

Kanda leapt back to avoid the hammer, as Lavi had hoped. It slammed into the wall instead, shattering the thick stone and punching a hole right through to the other side. That was an outside wall, leading out to the side of the tower that housed the headquarters. Before Kanda could recover Lavi had sprinted past him through the hole, running at full tilt for the side of the mountain.

"Stop!" Kanda ordered, furious. Behind him Lavi sensed a shift in pressure and a sudden upsurge in the power of Kanda's Innocence, and he knew what was coming even before he heard the next words. "Kaichuu: Ichigen!"

Planting the head of his hammer firmly against the ground, Lavi hung onto the shaft for dear life. "Extend! Extend, extend, _extend_!"

It shot out into the air over the side of the mountain, leaving him hanging precariously over far too much open space. He had angled the hammer so he would eventually reach the ground, but it would take a while to travel that far. The Insects had a finite range, and although he'd seen Kanda perform some pretty impressive aerobatics, to the best of his knowledge the man couldn't fly. If he could just get out of range before the Insects caught up to him, he might yet survive this.

Something impacted his hammer and made it vibrate, and he looked back in shock. Just at the edge of their range, the Insects were hurtling themselves at his hammer, trying to dislodge him. He tightened his grip and refused to let go, and finally they seemed to give up. Looking back with his power, Lavi saw them return to Kanda and reform into Mugen's blade.

With a motion almost too fast to follow, Kanda slashed down at the shaft of the hammer where it extended over the edge of the cliff. Innocence met Innocence with a ringing crash, and the shock of impact travelled all the way down to Lavi. Neither weapon was even scratched, and Lavi breathed a sigh of relief. Noah or not, he was pretty sure falling from this distance would still kill him.

As clearly as if he was standing there, Lavi could hear the other man's words when Kanda spoke. "This isn't over yet," Kanda swore, his voice low and fierce as he glared straight towards Lavi. There was rage and betrayal in his eyes... but also, lurking beneath, a sense of regret so deeply buried Lavi wasn't even sure it was really there.

"No, it's not," Lavi agreed softly, his chest - no, be honest, his heart - aching as he turned away. "Not by a long shot, Yuu."


	4. Chapter 4

It wasn't hard to tell where the trouble spot was. Kanda encountered the first group of Akuma almost two miles from the town where the finder had reported seeing them. They were just a bunch of stupid first levels, and he took them down easily. The next group was a few hundred yards down the road, and the third group just beyond that. None presented any problems for someone of his ability.

It did confirm the finder's rather hysterical estimation of the number of Akuma in the area, however. Kanda's mouth tightened as he destroyed the fourth group, the largest one yet. He was almost to the town's perimeter, but if there were this many Akuma _outside_ the town, there was surely nothing left of the townspeople to save.

The only question was what had drawn such an extraordinary number of them here in the first place. Komui had been cautiously optimistic that it might be an indication that the Heart had been found at last, the one piece of Innocence to which all other Innocence was connected. Kanda had his own theory, and it had nothing to do with Innocence.

"Exorcist!" The screech echoed among the trees, and Kanda firmed his grip on Mugen. That sound hadn't come from any human throat and the first levels couldn't speak, which meant he'd encountered a second level at last. It dove at him from above the trees, a giant bird with razor-sharp wings of steel and talons that glowed blue with the power of the Akuma virus.

Kanda braced himself to leap up to meet it, but to his shock something else intervened. A second Akuma launched itself from the branches were it had been hidden straight into the other Akuma, knocking it off course. "No!" the newcomer hissed. "Noah-sama said to let him pass!"

Well, that confirmed his theory, Kanda thought grimly. It wasn't Innocence that had drawn the Akuma here, it was a Noah. And they must have been here for quite a while to have gathered such a crowd. Staying in one place so long wasn't like any of the Noah they'd fought thus far, but there was one Noah whose habits they didn't yet know anything about.

"But he killed the others!" the first Akuma squawked, lashing out with its wing at the second. "The _Earl_ says Exorcists should be killed!"

"Noah-sama said..."

Kanda didn't wait to find out exactly what 'Noah-sama' had said. "Kaichuu: Ichigen!" He sent the Hell's Insects swarming after the two Akuma and put an end to the argument once and for all. They exploded with satisfying bangs, and he scanned the area quickly for any further attackers.

Either those were the only second levels in the area, or the rest had decided that following orders was the wise thing to do. He didn't hear so much as a squeak or a rustle, and couldn't see anything but gently blowing leaves.

There was more evidence of Akuma activity in the town itself, if only because it was too unnaturally quiet. There should have been people going about their daily tasks, travelling about from home to shops and back again, just as there should have been people hard at work in the fields and forest outside. Normally an Akuma-infested town made some pretence at normal life, hoping to draw in unwary travellers to feed on, but these didn't seem to be bothering.

He did see a few more second levels scattered around, but every one of them zipped off and hid the moment they saw him coming. Kanda didn't bother chasing them down. He had something more important to take care of first.

When he reached the church that stood on top of the hill at the centre of town, Kanda stopped outside and looked around. The middle of town was the logical place for the Noah to be, but then these people didn't seem to operate by any rules of logic _he_ knew. And if it was indeed Lavi who was here, well... Kanda had never understood what was going through the man's head at the best of times. He certainly wouldn't be able to predict Lavi now.

Finally he decided there was no point in playing hide-and-seek if he didn't have to. Maybe he could draw the traitor to him instead. Unless becoming a Noah enhanced a person's intelligence considerably, it shouldn't be _too_ hard to outwit Lavi. Drawing a deep breath, he braced himself to shout a challenge to the idiot.

"No need t'yell, Yuu. I'm right here."

Startled, Kanda actually jumped slightly, all the air escaping him in an explosive breath. He spun on one foot and raised Mugen automatically into a defensive position, examining the vicinity.

It only took him a moment to find the other man. The Noah was perched on the gable of the church above him, the wind ruffling his black hair. Despite the familiarity of the voice that had spoken, it still took Kanda a moment to convince himself he was indeed looking at Lavi. If the black hair and dark skin hadn't been disorienting enough, Lavi was watching him with _two_ golden eyes, and there was no sign of his usual eyepatch. Kanda had never seen Lavi without it, and the change was jarring.

"Yeah, it's me," Lavi confirmed with a small smile. "I know, I look different. 'Bout time you got here. I saw you coming three days ago and I've been waiting for you ever since. I'm not very good yet at figuring out _when_ what I see is gonna happen."

That confused Kanda, because he'd only received the report and set out from headquarters _two_ days ago. How could Lavi possibly have known he was coming earlier than that? Well, perhaps he'd seen the finder and correctly assumed that an Exorcist would be dispatched promptly from the Order to deal with the situation.

Never one for small talk, Kanda decided the best way to handle this was to get rid of the threat as quickly as possible. He didn't even take the time to aim, not wanting to warn the bastard. Lavi knew all of Kanda's attacks. "Kaichuu: Ichigen!"

The Hell's Insects blasted right through the gable, taking out a large chunk of the roof. But Lavi had already moved, jumping across the empty space between the church and the nearest house. "There's no point, y'know," Lavi informed him. "I can see what you're gonna do before you even know it yourself. You can't hit me."

"We'll see about that," Kanda snapped, reforming his blade and leaping after the Noah. To his shock the blade of his sword slammed firmly into the head of Lavi's hammer, stopping him cold.

Lavi jumped back out of reach again, resting the shaft of his Innocence on his shoulder. It looked _wrong_ to see someone who was so clearly a Noah standing there with Innocence in his hands. "Why is it still responding to you?" Kanda demanded, offended by the very idea.

"If you'd stop attacking me long enough t'talk to me, I'd tell you," Lavi said. "C'mon, Yuu. I know you never liked me much, but..." He snapped his mouth shut and blushed abruptly, then shook his head. "Never mind that. The point is, I don't wanna fight with you."

"You're a Noah. I'm an Exorcist," Kanda growled, circling slowly to try to get a better attack angle. Lavi turned to follow him, those unnerving golden eyes fixed on him. "There's nothing for us to talk about."

"I'm a Noah _and_ an Exorcist, how's that for a topic of conversation?" Lavi said, waving his hammer for emphasis. "You said it yourself. Why can I still use my Innocence? Why haven't I Fallen, for that matter?"

"Why have you gathered all these Akuma to you?" Kanda retorted, gesturing with Mugen at a pair of second levels he spotted peeking over a nearby rooftop to watch the fight. They yelped and dove for cover, but he didn't send the Insects after them. Doing so would leave him vulnerable to Lavi, and that was the last thing he intended to do. He could deal with the Akuma once the main threat was removed.

"Heard any reports of towns in the area being attacked?" Lavi snapped back, his eyes flashing with something that might have been anger. "Any signs of Akuma activity anywhere near here? Any Exorcists or Finders going missing?"

"No, because what looks like every Akuma for a hundred miles is _here_."

"Exactly." Lavi sounded triumphant, as if that proved something.

Kanda stared at him in disbelief. "You killed all these people, and you think that's going to make me _spare_ you?"

"What? No!" To Kanda surprise, Lavi looked first shocked and then dismayed. "I didn't create these, damn it. This town was already lost when I got here, that's why I chose it to hole up in. It meant there wasn't anyone around for me to hurt while I learned to control myself. And as long as they're all here, they're not out hunting innocent people."

That made Kanda pause, because despite himself he had to admit there was some logic to that. Lavi-style logic, perhaps, but... "Why should I believe you?"

"Oh, for..." Lavi closed his eyes briefly, as if exasperated, then lunged abruptly to one side.

Kanda spun to follow him, Mugen slashing out at the place where the Noah would have to attack him from. But Lavi had already changed direction, grabbing the edge of a chimney and using it to swing his momentum in a new direction, coming at Kanda from the opposite side entirely. Kanda attacked him there, but again Lavi was gone before he could strike, sliding around the thrust as easily as water flowing past an obstruction.

Again and again Kanda struck, but couldn't land a single hit. He didn't even come close enough to force Lavi to block with his hammer; the traitor just ducked and dodged, weaving around him and making it look effortless.

"Stop _toying_ with me!" Kanda snarled, lunging to try to catch Lavi by surprise. He overextended himself, and before he could recover he felt something solid resting on his back, a sharp point digging into the base of his neck.

He froze, panting, waiting for the final strike. The finial on Lavi's hammer was wickedly sharp, something Kanda had never noticed before he felt it pressed against his skin.

"I'm not 'toying' with you. I'm just trying to prove a point." Lavi sounded... weary, maybe even heartsick, and that surprised Kanda enough that he risked looking over his shoulder. The hammer didn't waver, and a flick of Lavi's wrist could sever Kanda's spine, but the golden eyes that gazed back at him were full of nothing but grief and regret. "If I wanted you dead, Yuu, you'd never have made it as far as the town. Now are you gonna force me to keep fighting and maybe hurt you by accident, or are you gonna listen to me?"

Ordinarily Kanda would have argued that vehemently, but there was no denying that the opponent he was facing now was leagues above the Exorcist he had once fought beside. "All right. I'm listening."

Faint hope brightened the other man's expression. "I'm still me," Lavi said softly. "I'm still on your side, Yuu. Noah is..." he grimaced. "Persuasive, let's put it that way. But he picked the wrong person this time. He's got no idea just how stubborn a Bookman can be." Lavi's eyes gleamed. "I _can_ control this, I'm certain of it. And..."

Lavi tensed and spun abruptly, the hammer swinging away from Kanda's back to aim at something above them and to one side. It could have been a trap, but Kanda had always trusted his instincts and they were screaming at him that there was suddenly a bigger threat than the Noah in the area. He turned as well, bringing Mugen up, and his eyes widened when he saw the man floating down from the sky towards them.

There was no mistaking the Earl of Millennium for anything human. He was like a grotesque parody of a clown, with his misshapen rotund body and huge grin that never wavered. Many of the Akuma who had been hiding now appeared, cackling with glee as they made their way to surround the Earl.

"I was wondering when you'd show up," Lavi said, his voice flat.

"Sincere apologies for being late," the Earl said, his glasses flashing in the sunlight. "So many demands on my time, you know how it is."

"You..." Kanda snarled, turning on Lavi in fury. So it had been a trap all along, and Lavi had just been stalling until the Earl could arrive.

Lavi brought his hammer around to block the attack without ever taking his eyes off the Earl. "Stay out of this, Yuu," he said, his voice still empty in a way Kanda had never heard it before. His eyes were blank as well, but Kanda noticed he was sweating hard and there were tight lines around his eyes, as if he was in pain. "This is between me and the Earl, it's got nothing to do with you."

"On the contrary," the Earl chuckled, rocking from heel to toe and back again. "I see you've gathered an impressive army to your side, but you have yet to create a servant for yourself. There is a lovely symmetry to your first creation being a fellow Exorcist, don't you think?"

"Do it, do it, relo!" The pumpkin-headed umbrella that had transported the Earl now floated just over his shoulder, grinning maniacally at Kanda. "Hahaha, make him one of ours, relo!"

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Lavi said. "Bet you've just about been pissing yourself laughing at the idea of having a Noah who's an Exorcist _and_ a Bookman. Pretty big coup for you. _If_ you can get me." He finally smiled, but it wasn't his usual carefree grin. It was a grim smile, promising pain and mayhem for anyone who stood in his way.

"There's no if," the Earl said with mock-sadness, shaking his giant head slowly. "My poor boy. Poor child! There's no need to continue fighting. You can't win. It will all stop hurting if you just..."

Without warning red light flared up around the Earl, and Kanda caught a glimpse of Oodzuchi Kodzuchi's fire seal burned into the rooftop before Lavi spoke, his voice still as unemotional as it had been through the whole conversation. "Gouka kaijin."

Flames burst into being around the Earl, roaring with all the fury of a wildfire. Half a dozen of the Akuma near him were destroyed instantly, and the rest fled with shrieks of terror. "Kaichuu: Ichigen!" Kanda shouted, releasing the Insects and sending them swarming into the heart of the fire snake. The fire couldn't hurt them, and if there was anything left of the Earl he wanted to make certain it was finished.

The Insects met no resistance, and for an instant Kanda dared to hope. But Lavi shook his head, releasing his fire seal. "Not gonna be that easy, Yuu. I knew it'd miss... but it was worth it for the shocked look on his face."

Lavi turned to face another rooftop, and Kanda followed his gaze to find the Earl standing there untouched. Relo hadn't been quite so lucky; the umbrella was bent practically in half, blowing frantically at a smouldering spot on its side in an attempt to put out the fire. It was only making it worse, and finally the Earl reached over and crushed the smouldering area beneath his thumb.

The creature was still smiling, of course, but somehow he managed to convey an aura of anger and menace anyway. "That was very rude," the Earl chided them, his voice deceptively soft.

"Yeah, well. Never been much good with manners," Lavi said, bringing the hammer back to his shoulder and smiling defiantly at the Earl. "Never been much good at following orders, either. I doubt yours - or Noah's - will be any different."

"You're only delaying the inevitable," the Earl said.

"Maybe, maybe not," Lavi replied. "Either way, in the meantime I think my powers will be put to a lot better use on behalf of the Order instead of working for you."

The Earl raised one hand in a beckoning motion, but Lavi lashed out with his hammer and destroyed the three Akuma that had been trying to sneak up on them without even looking. "You can't hurt me," Lavi told the Earl. "I can't kill you either, so I guess we're even. So why don't you just go fuck yourself and leave me be, huh?"

"I can't hurt you?" the Earl repeated, chuckling. "Oh, I disagree."

From nowhere a giant sword appeared in his hand, and he lunged straight at Kanda. Caught by surprise, Kanda shouted and leapt back, bringing Mugen up to block, but he had a sinking feeling it wasn't going to be enough.

Then Lavi was between them, arms spread wide and golden eyes challenging, glaring at the Earl. The Earl aborted his attack, letting the sword pass harmlessly to one side of his newest Noah.

"You think I didn't see that coming, too?" Lavi asked contemptuously. "I am Noah's Vision, and there won't be any more Exorcists killed by your hands or by the rest of the Noah. Not on my watch, damn it. You can't hide from me."

"Hmph." If the Earl was impressed by Lavi's defiant speech, it didn't show on his inhuman face. "You can't resist forever. And the longer you do, the harder it will become and the more pain you'll experience in the end. I'll leave you alone for now. When you do come to your senses, it will only be to my advantage."

Cackling, he grabbed at Relo's handle and floated into the air again, vanishing as abruptly as he had appeared. The two Exorcists were left alone on the rooftop, only the remains of the burning Akuma and the destruction of the buildings around them to show there had ever been a confrontation.

Warily Lavi turned to look at Kanda. "Well?" he asked. "Are you convinced yet?"

"Asking me that doesn't exactly inspire confidence that it wasn't an act designed for exactly that purpose," Kanda said, but his eyes were on Lavi's hammer. "Do you really believe you could Fall?"

"If not for giving in to Noah's control, then for what?" Lavi replied with a shrug. "Assuming I don't destroy it first, of course. But either way, as long as I have Oodzuchi Kodzuchi, you can believe that I'm still on your side. Can't you?"

Kanda met his eyes, refusing to flinch from the inhuman gaze. Despite the unfamiliar appearance - and, for that matter, the uncharacteristic seriousness - it was easy enough to read Lavi's emotions. Pain, grief, anger... and hope. Desperate hope, the kind shown by someone who's cornered and has nothing left to lose, who doesn't quite trust that he's going to make it out alive.

Could Kanda trust Lavi? Could he take the chance that it might all be a ruse? Could he convince everyone _else_?

But there was the Innocence to consider. There was no doubt it was real, that couldn't be faked. And Lavi was right that if he betrayed the Order, his Innocence would turn on him. Surely.

"If the day ever comes when you do turn, if you Fall or destroy your Innocence..." Kanda narrowed his eyes. "I swear by Mugen, I will kill you myself."

Lavi gave him a crooked version of his usual grin, but his expression was haunted. "I know, Yuu. In fact, I'm counting on it."


	5. Chapter 5

Try as he might, Lavi could find no way around the upcoming confrontation. It was, quite literally, inevitable. His new powers didn't tell him how to accomplish his goals, only showed him the results of his tentative plans. Every option he could think of led straight to the same place. He was not going to be able to return to the Order quietly - Bookman would make certain of that.

The elevator ride had never seemed more interminable. Lavi fidgeted nervously, twirling his hammer between his fingers and trying not to pay attention to the dark colour of his skin and nails. The transformation was complete; the stigmata had turned black and didn't bleed anymore, even if he covered them. At least the worst of the headache had faded and his stomach had stopped rebelling, but the trade-off was that he had to listen to Noah constantly whispering in the back of his mind. He was getting used to ignoring the never-ending stream of venom and hatred, but it wasn't easy.

"Can't you make yourself look human?" Kanda demanded, eyeing him warily from the other side of the elevator. Actually he hadn't taken his eyes off Lavi from the moment the Earl had left, or so it seemed. Lavi knew for a fact Kanda hadn't slept the night before, sitting up by their campfire to 'keep watch'. He hadn't accepted Lavi's offer to take half the night, so Lavi was fairly certain Kanda hadn't been watching for anything outside their campsite.

"I dunno. Prob'ly," Lavi said, spinning the tiny hammer around his index finger. "Doesn't seem like there's much point at the moment. Better to let them all see the truth for themselves."

"I was hoping we'd be able to get in to talk to Komui _without_ drawing a lot of attention," Kanda grumbled.

Lavi caught his hammer and gave the other man a disbelieving look. "You don't honestly think I can keep this _hidden_ , do you? I was gone for more than a week. Are you seriously telling me that in all that time, not one rumour was going around the Order 'bout what happened in the library that night?"

"I don't pay attention to rumours." Kanda shifted, and looked vaguely uncomfortable. "I suppose I did hear people talking about it. But it's still only rumours, nothing confirmed."

"Well, they're about to get confirmed," Lavi said, sighing as he focused his attention briefly above them. They were almost at the top, and they were about to have company. "There're four Exorcists and nearly two dozen researchers waiting for us up there. It doesn't matter how human I look, Bookman's not gonna let me just waltz back into the Order."

"What?" Kanda bolted upright from where he'd been leaning against the wall, startled. "Why the hell didn't you warn me? How did they know we were coming?"

"Prob'ly saw us on the monitors, and I didn't see any reason to worry you." Lavi squared his shoulders and tugged at the hem of his jacket, shrugging to make sure it was settled properly. He did his best to look nonchalant, and thought he'd succeeded. Only the death grip he had on his hammer betrayed his nerves, and nobody would be able to see that. "Smile, Yuu. We're on."

The elevator dinged quietly, and the doors slid open. Lavi was absolutely certain that the only reason they weren't immediately greeted by a hail of needles was because Bookman didn't want to damage Kanda beyond the other man's ability to repair quickly. The old man stood at the head of a crowd of people, the Heaven's Compass scroll held ready in his hands and his dark eyes fixed unwaveringly on Lavi.

Behind him stood Allen, Lenalee and Krory, spread out like a protective barrier in front of the non-combatants. Green fire crackled around Allen's shoulder, his Innocence already activated, and Lenalee's Dark Boots glowed with power as well. Krory alone didn't look ready for battle, standing beside the others like an overgrown bewildered puppy, but his Innocence wasn't as much under his control as Allen's. Lavi wasn't an Akuma, just a threat, and Krory didn't seem quite sure how to handle that.

Lenalee gasped when she got a clear look at him, and buried her face in her hands, turning away. Allen rested his human hand on her shoulder briefly but didn't take his eyes off Lavi, his expression one of sorrow and pity.

"What do you think you're doing?" Bookman said, his voice flat and containing not a trace of regret. "Have you managed to corrupt Kanda as well? Why did you come here?"

Lavi was surprised to find that his master's obvious lack of grief over the whole thing did hurt, as did the way Lenalee had turned away from him like she was looking at something horrible. Even Allen's pity was like salt rubbed over a wound. He'd expected all of it, especially Bookman's reaction, but that didn't stop it from making his throat go momentarily tight or his chest from aching.

He cleared his throat, but Kanda beat him to it. "What do you mean, corrupt me?" Kanda said, clearly incensed. "If he'd turned me into an Akuma, the alarms would have gone off. And if you're implying that I would ever willingly betray the Order, you'd better rethink your accusations before I decide to take real offence, old man."

"Then why isn't _he_ either dead or securely bound?" Bookman said, pointing at Lavi.

"Because I'm not a damned prisoner, old panda, and I'm not a threat, either," Lavi said, grateful that his voice came out steady. "That's what I was _trying_ to tell you, that night in the library. I'm not some kind of mindless monster, being controlled by Noah's will. I'm still me, damn it, only with powers that could be a huge help to the Order. We've been all but helpless against the Noah up to this point. Why shouldn't we take the chance to turn the tables on them?"

"It's true that we've already lost far too many people - and too many Innocence - to the Noah's clan up to this point," Komui said thoughtfully. "Anything we could do to even the power balance would be invaluable."

"But how can we trust him?" one of the researchers demanded. It wasn't one of the men Lavi knew well, but people like Johnny and Reever were nodding uneasily in agreement.

"Because I'm vouching for him, that's why," Kanda snapped, eyes flashing and one hand on Mugen's hilt. "I've already made it perfectly clear to him that I'll kill him the moment I suspect he might be betraying us. Anyone who doubts _my_ loyalty is free to say so right now." He glared straight at Bookman.

Bookman folded his arms into his sleeves and ignored Kanda, watching Lavi instead. "You may have fooled Kanda, but I know better than anyone exactly how good you are at deceiving people. Since 'Lavi' was never real in the first place, I have no doubt you'll be able to continue the act without any outward changes."

There was some confused murmuring in the crowd at that, and Lavi silently cursed his master. The old bastard _would_ bring that up now. "Everyone wears masks, and you and I know that better than most. But there's one thing all of you _can_ trust, no matter how good an actor I am."

He held out his hand and expanded his hammer, letting the head rest on the ground and putting one foot on it. "My Innocence. I haven't destroyed it, and it hasn't turned on me."

Bookman didn't look in any way impressed, but it did at least make the others figuratively sit up and take notice. Everyone knew the rumours about what happened to an Exorcist who betrayed his Innocence.

"That's true," Allen said, his expression brightening. He deactivated his Innocence and the giant silver claw reverted to normal. He stepped forward and held his other hand out towards Lavi, smiling. "I'm sorry for doubting you, Lavi."

"Nah. I'd've done the same in your place." Lavi shook his head and brushed his fingers briefly over Allen's outstretched hand. He didn't dare risk more contact than that, afraid he'd be swamped by a vision again. His control was better now, but far from complete.

"You see? I told you he wouldn't turn against us!" Lenalee exclaimed, giving him a watery smile. It wasn't hard to tell she'd been crying a lot recently, and that made him feel bad despite the fact that he hadn't had any choice in the matter. She stepped up to stand at Allen's shoulder, and Krory followed her.

"I believe in Lavi-san as well," Krory said. "He's always been good to me, from the moment we first realized we weren't enemies. He never even held that against me. I'm certainly not going to hold this against him."

That left only one of the Exorcists present outside their little circle. Bookman gave them all a disgusted look. "On your own heads be it, then," the old man said. "If you're foolish enough to allow a snake into your home, don't be surprised when it bites you."

"He won't get a chance," Kanda growled back. "I already told you, I'll kill him myself the moment he does anything suspicious."

"That solves that, then," Komui said brightly, clapping his hands. "Kanda's taking responsibility for him. Anyone else have any objections?"

One by one the researchers shook their heads. "It's good to have you back, Lavi," Reever said, with a hearty smile that might even have fooled someone less observant than Lavi. The fear lurking in the back of the man's eyes was all too obvious to someone trained by the Bookman, but Lavi managed a return smile that had only a touch of bitterness.

"It's good t'be back, trust me," he said, patting Allen on the shoulder and giving Lenalee a flirtatious wink. "How could I ever leave the Order? The prettiest girl in Europe is right here!"

Instead of rolling her eyes or smacking him like she normally would have, Lenalee flinched and pulled away from him, her eyes wide. She recovered almost immediately, but her answering smile was timid. "Sorry. It's just... you look so different. It's going to take a while to get used to it."

It didn't matter, Lavi told himself sternly. Lenalee's reaction, his master's abandonment, the distrust of the researchers - none of it mattered to him. Lavi might not _be_ a Bookman anymore if the Bookman had anything to say about it, but he had still spent most of his life as one. Bookmen didn't have hearts, didn't allow themselves to feel that kind of emotional distress. He could just shut it out, the same way he always had, and all that would be left was...

 _Kill. Exorcist. Innocence. Destroy!_

Lavi blanched, and hastily wrenched his mind away from that train of thought. Feeling hurt by Lenalee pulling away from him was infinitely better than the sensation of Noah surging up inside him, seeking a way to take him over. He _wasn't_ empty inside and never would be again, so maybe it was just as well that he was unlikely to ever take his place as the next Bookman. Distancing himself from humanity only brought him that much closer to Noah.

"C'mon, let's go," he said, doing his best to hide his unease. "Lemme tell you, a town full of Akuma make lousy company. Getting rid of them before we left was the most fun I'd had in weeks. I want properly cooked food. And a hot shower and clean clothes, damn it."

"You need it, sorry to say," Johnny joked weakly, and the others gave a round of nervous chuckles. It was a far cry from the casual teasing and genuine laughter Lavi usually enjoyed with the members of the Order, but at least it was a start.

"All right, we'll see you both in the cafeteria once you're cleaned up," Allen said firmly.

"Just don't eat everything before we get there," Lavi protested, and earned a less forced smile from the boy.

"No promises," Allen threatened. "So you'd better hurry up. Come on, Lenalee, guys, let's go. Jeryy's probably wondering if we've all decided to abandon our dinners."

Lavi watched them go, wondering how long it would be before any of them could look him in the eyes again. Even Allen hadn't quite been able to do it, mostly because he'd been too distracted by the black marks of the crown of thorns. As a Bookman Lavi had always been an outsider, even when he'd been in the middle of the crowd. But he'd never felt it more keenly than he had in the moment when Lenalee had flinched from him.

"Well? Are you just going to stand here all day?" Kanda demanded, pushing past him and flicking an irritated glance over his shoulder. Kanda, Lavi was amused to note, seemed to have no trouble looking at him straight on. Granted he'd had nearly two days of travelling together to get used to Lavi's altered appearance, but he'd stared fearlessly into Lavi's eyes from the first moment Lavi had revealed his presence.

"You do realize you've just locked yourself into having me as a partner for the duration, right?" Lavi said as he followed after the other man, heading for the bathing area.

"What? I did no such thing," Kanda replied, obviously horrified by the idea. Lavi couldn't help but snort in amusement.

"Didn't you hear Komui say you were taking responsibility for me? That's about the only thing that stopped a riot, back there. They trust you to do what's necessary. But how can you stop me from turning on them if you're out on a mission somewhere away from me?"

Realization dawned, and dismay with it. "That's not what I meant, damn it. I didn't think..." Lavi watched as Kanda struggled with the idea, trying to find some logical reason why he didn't need to be stuck standing guard over the new Noah to protect the rest of the Order from him.

Or possibly to protect him from the rest of the Order, but Lavi was really hoping it wouldn't come to that. Bookman seemed to have given way, at least for the moment, following his own belief that he shouldn't interfere with history.

"Sorry, Yuu. Believe me, I like the idea of having a babysitter about as much as you're enjoying the idea of doing the babysitting." Lavi shrugged. "Not much we can do about it now."

"Hn." That seemed to be all Kanda was willing to say on the matter, though his expression was stormy enough to say plenty for him.

The Order's bathing area was technically communal, but each stall was separated from the next by thin walls of wood. Rain was caught in a cistern on the roof above, then drained by gravity through a section of the ceiling that was punctured by many small holes. It was rather like washing in a rainstorm, and Lavi had been enamoured of the thing since he'd first encountered it. Best of all, thanks to the esoteric advanced technology available to the Order, there was always _hot_ water on demand.

He hadn't been kidding about the poor company of a town full of Akuma. The creatures couldn't have cared less about keeping clean, and there was dried blood and gore from their kills everywhere. Lavi hadn't really been in much shape to care about his own hygiene for most of the time he'd been there, too lost in pain and the struggle to keep his mind intact. What baths he'd managed before Kanda had arrived had been cold water he'd drawn from the village well.

So he scrubbed himself half raw now, grimacing as he realized that some of the 'filth' he'd been trying to get rid of was in fact his new skin colour. He really needed to do something about that. He'd made his point; now nobody could say he was trying to hide it. He'd much rather look like himself.

The other Noah could do it, so surely he could as well. Closing his eyes, Lavi concentrated hard on his normal appearance. Red hair, bright green eyes, and the pale skin that was the curse of every redhead. Especially the pale skin; he was so tired of looking at himself and seeing black.

To his extreme relief, when he opened his eyes again he saw exactly what he'd expected to see. He couldn't be a hundred percent certain without checking a mirror, but everything of himself that he could see was back to normal. Even his forehead was smooth again, when he ran a hand over it to check. Grinning, he tipped his head back and let the hot water pour over him, just luxuriating in it for a moment.

"Hurry up, or I'm leaving you behind whether the rest of them like it or not," Kanda said from just outside the closed curtain to his stall, sounding impatient. "You're not the only one who's hungry. What are you doing that's taking so long, anyway?"

Lips twitching, Lavi couldn't help but tweak the other man's tail a little. "Hmm? Just making myself feel a _whole_ lot better," he purred, lowering his voice and putting a touch of huskiness into it.

"What?" Now Kanda sounded scandalized, and Lavi chuckled.

Pulling the lever that closed the holes in the ceiling, Lavi surveyed the ruin of his clothes and decided there was no way he was getting back into them. He slung a towel around his hips and grabbed a second to dry off his - thankfully bright red - hair. He pulled the curtain aside, and grinned as Kanda did a rather amusing double take. "Did I get everything right?"

For a moment Kanda just stared at him, apparently nonplussed. His clothes weren't in nearly as disgraceful a state as Lavi's had been, so he was wearing his pants. His long hair was down, still dripping water even though he'd obviously wrung it out, and he'd slung a towel over his bare shoulders to catch some of the water.

He opened his mouth, but Lavi missed whatever it was that he said, struck by another vision. Actually 'vision' was the wrong word, because it was mostly tactile. Kanda was braced above him, just as he had been the other times Lavi had seen this image, but this time what Lavi was most aware of was the way the silken strands of Kanda's hair slid over his naked body with every thrust the other man made. It felt like a thousand hands caressing him on his sensitized skin, and he shuddered and had to bite down hard to stop a little whimper from escaping him.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me?"

The sharp demand didn't match the image in Lavi's mind, and helped him shake free of it. With a soft gasp he came back to himself, and found Kanda glaring at him. Beneath the other man's obvious irritation there was the barest hint of concern, and Lavi wondered how long he'd been standing there staring at nothing.

Or, well, staring at _Kanda_ , actually. Feeling his cheeks flush, Lavi shook his head. "Nothing! It's nothing. I mean, I'm fine. Sorry. Just spaced out for a second there. What did you say?"

Kanda frowned, and Lavi prayed the other man wasn't going to push the issue. Kanda had gotten to know the signs of Lavi having a vision on the trip back, but he'd stopped asking about them after the first few. Hopefully this wouldn't be the time he decided he was curious. "I said, you missed one eye," Kanda finally said. He gestured to the right side of Lavi's face. "That one is still gold."

"Really? That's weird," Lavi said, frowning. He moved over to one of the mirrors hung on the walls at intervals and wiped it clear with a corner of his towel. Sure enough his left eye was the usual brilliant green, but his right eye was still gold.

Concentrating hard, Lavi willed it to change. No matter what he did, that eye remained stubbornly gold. Finally he tried shifting the other eye to match it, and that worked just fine. But once again when he tried to return to his more human appearance the left eye changed, but the right stayed the same.

"Damn," he finally sighed, giving up. "And I was just starting to really enjoy having depth perception again. Figures." He fished his discarded eyepatch out of the pocket of his jacket, then threw the whole bundle of his clothes into the nearest laundry hamper. At least since he hadn't been wearing the patch, it wasn't nearly as dirty as the rest of his clothes.

"You look strange without it, anyway," Kanda muttered, looking away from him and scowling at nothing in particular. "It would just be another reminder that something had changed. Why did you wear it, if you didn't need it?"

"Who said I didn't need it?" Lavi countered, grinning. "If you're nice enough while we're stuck together, maybe I'll tell you the whole story some day."

"Are you planning to wear the towel to the cafeteria?" Kanda asked dryly when Lavi headed for the door.

"Nope, just as long as it takes for me to get new... shit." Lavi staggered slightly as another fleeting vision struck him, then caught his balance again. "Shit! Aw, damn it. I didn't even think of that."

"What?" Kanda said, alarmed. "What did you see?"

"Looks like I'm gonna have to wear this to eat after all," Lavi said, unable to keep his shoulders from drooping even though he did his best to keep up his cheerful facade. "Not to mention find another place to sleep. I shared quarters with Bookman, remember? It really would _not_ be a good idea for me to go looking for my stuff right now." He rubbed his chest absently, wincing at the remembered feel of the needles piercing the skin. Bookman hadn't been aiming to kill this time, but the old man knew exactly where to hit to cause the most pain. "Assuming he hasn't tossed it already, anyway."

Kanda looked like he'd bitten into a lemon. Even with his new powers, Lavi could not have predicted what the other man said next. "Fuck it. You can wear something of mine. We're almost the same size."

Lavi stared at him in astonishment. "I can what?" he repeated dumbly, certain he'd misheard.

"Don't make me repeat myself," Kanda said crossly, storming through the door and into the hall. Bemused, Lavi followed him.

"Uh..." Lavi tried to think of a polite way to ask why the hell Kanda was being so nice to him, and failed. Well, 'nice' for Kanda, anyway. If it had been anyone else he'd have accused them of feeling sorry for him, which was the last thing he wanted. Somehow, he doubted pity was Kanda's driving emotion.

"You can sleep in the cafeteria for all I care, though," Kanda said as he opened the door to his room. "You're _not_ staying here."

Despite himself, Lavi couldn't help but imagine the results of the two of them forced to share quarters for any extended length of time. Then he didn't need to imagine it, because he could see it quite clearly. There were half a dozen possible futures that flitted past his mind's eye, and very few of them were pleasant. And the ones that were...

He blushed again. "I _still_ don't believe that's even possible," he muttered to himself.

"What's not?" Kanda asked, tossing him a pair of trousers and a knitted shirt that would have been loose on Kanda, and so would probably fit Lavi perfectly.

"Nothing!" Lavi said hastily, blushing harder. No, there was absolutely no way in hell he was going to tell Kanda about _those_ visions. "That is, I was just saying I don't think it'd even be possible for us to survive sharing space. There's plenty of extra rooms, I'll just ask Komui to assign me one. And go shopping for clothes soon, I guess."

"Bookman is being... colder about this whole mess than I'd have expected," Kanda observed as they quickly dressed. Lavi turned away, afraid he'd get another flash of that impossible vision if he caught a glimpse of Kanda without his clothes. "He's your mentor, and he raised you. But he seems more angry than upset."

"He is more angry than upset," Lavi admitted with a sigh. "I shouldn't have expected anything else, though I guess part of me did." Or he wouldn't feel hurt by it, but he wasn't going to mention that part. "That's part of being the Bookman, being able to stay objective no matter what. Don't mistake our relationship, Yuu. There's no affection between us and never has been. He's my master and nothing more."

Kanda was silent for long moments, and Lavi finally turned back to see him pulling his hair up into his customary ponytail. He was frowning, of course, but it was hard to tell what was going through his head.

"It's none of my business what your relationship with him is," the swordsman eventually said. "But if he tries to take matters into his own hands over Komui letting you back into the Order, I'll _make_ it my business. Komui made you my responsibility, and that goes both ways."

Well, that explained a lot. Kanda took his duties very seriously, even the ones he hated and resented. So the other man would help Lavi exactly as much as was necessary, and probably not one bit more. Pity had nothing to do with it. Lavi relaxed, and didn't realize until he did how tense he'd gotten.

"No worries, Yuu. I can handle the old panda," Lavi assured him, though secretly he was a little grateful to know he would have the backup if it came down to it. The others had tentatively accepted him back and were trying to pretend that nothing had changed, but he couldn't know what was going on beneath that surface of false friendship.

At least with Kanda, he could be certain exactly where he stood. Kanda had always disliked him, so absolutely nothing had changed. As fucked up as Lavi's life had become, that was incredibly reassuring.


	6. Chapter 6

There was no answer to Kanda's knock, and he frowned at the door in irritation. It was possible that Lavi wasn't in his room, of course; in the past it would have been highly unusual to find the gregarious redhead squirreled away in solitude. But in the last weeks the other man's habits had changed rather drastically, and now he tended to spend most of his time alone.

Figuring it was more likely that Lavi was ignoring him than that the other man was somewhere else, Kanda shoved the door open and peered inside. Sure enough the redhead was there, kneeling on the floor in front of a giant map that he'd spread out over the little empty space available. Lavi was focused intently on the map, trailing his finger slowly over the surface. He'd shoved his eyepatch up and both his eyes were gold, but otherwise he looked normal. If he was aware of Kanda's presence, he gave no indication of it.

That was exactly the same position he'd been in the last time Kanda had checked on him, first thing that morning. Frowning, Kanda stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated when Lavi suddenly reached out and grabbed a pen that was waiting in an inkwell beside the map.

Lavi circled an area and scribbled hasty notations next to it. There were a few other such markings, scattered over northern Europe. Once he was finished Lavi returned the pen to the inkwell and resumed tracing a path over the map, still without ever acknowledging Kanda.

"What are you doing?" Kanda said, tired of waiting. Lavi jumped and looked up at him, golden eyes wide in surprise.

"Yuu! Fuck, don't sneak up on me like that, would you?" Shaking his head, Lavi leaned back and groaned as several vertebrae in his back popped audibly. "Ow, damn it. How long have I been sitting here?"

"Since this morning, apparently. At least, you don't seem to have moved since I checked on you then," Kanda informed him. "I expected you to see I was coming. You usually do."

"I can only see one thing at a time, apparently." Lavi shrugged, looking rueful. "If I'm concentrating on one thing, then I don't get any warning of anything else. That was how Bookman caught me in the library that first night."

"I'd wondered," Kanda admitted, coming forward to kneel on the other side of the map. He studied the marked areas, but he couldn't even identify the language the writing was in, let alone read it. "What _are_ you doing?"

"Looking for problems," Lavi said as he reached up to tug his eyepatch back into place. His other eye had returned to green, but the right one had remained gold as it always did. "I damn near gave myself a migraine trying to find the rest of the Innocence; something about it blocks my powers, I guess. I can't even see the Innocence I know is here, let alone stuff I don't know the location of. But I finally realized I could scan for places where Akuma are gathering or causing a lot of trouble, and keep an eye on all the Exorcists we have out in the field. It's something, at least."

Kanda looked at the markings with new respect. "It's more than just something. This will save a lot of time and effort, especially for the finders in the area."

Lavi's smile was bitter. "Yeah, well. They won't let me be an Exorcist, but at least I can be an uber-finder."

"You're still an Exorcist. It's not like they've taken your Innocence from you," Kanda argued, frowning.

"No, but they won't let me out of headquarters either," Lavi countered. "My Innocence isn't doing anyone any good cooped up in here. Neither is yours, for that matter, since you're effectively glued to my side."

Kanda grunted and looked away, because that was becoming a serious thorn in his side as well. Officially Lavi was being kept here 'for observation and study of the extent of the powers of a Noah', but the reality was simply that they didn't trust him away from supervision. And since Kanda was shackled to Lavi by his own rash words, he was trapped as well. At least Lavi had _something_ he could do to be useful.

"They'll relent eventually," he said, trying to seem more certain than he felt. "They can't afford to keep two Exorcists off duty for long."

"No, they can't," Lavi agreed, but he sounded pensive rather than hopeful. Looking pained, the redhead rubbed at his eye. "God, I've got a headache. Probably just as well you interrupted me, I think I was starting to see double."

"When was the last time you ate?" Kanda asked. Lavi hesitated, and Kanda snorted. "That's answer enough. You don't need a guard, you need a damned nursemaid. Komui would be better off assigning Allen to you. _He'd_ be willing to coddle you." He stood and jerked his head impatiently at the door. "Come on, let's go."

Lavi stood as well, but he was looking in the direction of the cafeteria with that unfocused gaze that meant he was seeing something Kanda couldn't. "Everyone else is there, too. It's supper time, isn't it?" He sighed. "I guess they'll probably start wondering what I'm up to if they don't see me every so often, huh? At least Bookman's not there."

"He's gone out with Krory and Allen," Kanda told him, more than a little sour about it. At this point he was envious of anyone who got sent out on a mission, no matter how tedious.

"Well, good." Lavi perked up a bit at that. "I can stop worrying about being ambushed if I leave the room, at least for a while. C'mon, Yuu. Now that you've reminded me about food, I'm starving."

The redhead's improved mood lasted until they reached the cafeteria, where the mingled conversations abruptly died the moment they came through the doors. Kanda saw Lavi wince faintly. Then the other man lifted his head and pasted on a very convincing smile, heading for the order window as if absolutely nothing was wrong.

It wasn't hard to see why Bookman had said he thought Lavi wouldn't have trouble convincing people he was fine. If Kanda hadn't seen that wince, hadn't heard Lavi's earlier reluctance to face everyone else, he wouldn't have had a clue that anything was wrong. Even though he knew it was fake, Kanda couldn't see through Lavi's smile.

Slowly the noise level rose again as people resumed talking. In fact everything was just a little too loud, the laughter a little too bright, as if everyone was trying too hard to pretend nothing was wrong. Kanda scowled as he waited his turn in line. The whole thing was starting to piss him off. Lavi hadn't done a damned thing to earn everyone's continuing distrust, had in fact accepted every restriction they'd piled on him without complaint and done his best to fulfill his promise to use his powers to help turn the tide of the war in favour of the Order.

Not that Kanda particularly cared if the idiot was getting his feelings hurt, but it was the principle of the thing.

Turning, he surveyed the room in hopes of finding an empty or mostly-empty table to sit at. It wasn't hard to spot one; Lavi's red hair stood out like a beacon as always, especially when he was surrounded by empty space. Kanda stared. It wasn't like Lavi to sit alone... and hadn't that table been full of people when they'd come in?

A moment later he understood when two more of the researchers picked up their trays and quickly excused themselves, carrying their half-finished meals to the disposal area. That left only Lavi and Lenalee at the table, and judging by the look on Lenalee's face she didn't particularly want to be there either.

Well, he _was_ supposed to be keeping an eye on Lavi, Kanda told himself as he strode over and deposited his food directly across from Lavi. And it _was_ the emptiest table in the room. He settled into the seat with a glare that dared either of the other Exorcists to comment. Lenalee just gave him a tentative smile in return, and Lavi's bright grin only broadened.

"Sinking to our level, Yuu?" Lavi drawled. "You don't usually deign to join the rest of us. Or do you just wanna make sure I don't stab somebody with my fork?"

"I wouldn't put it past you to do something that idiotic," Kanda muttered, and got a faint snort of real amusement from Lavi in return.

"Um..." Lenalee looked at them, obviously trying to find something to say. Her dinner was almost finished, but she was only toying with it now, chasing a grain of rice around the bowl with her chopsticks.

Lavi's smile gentled as he looked at her. "It's okay, Lenalee," he said softly. "Go on, you don't have to stay just to keep me company if you're done."

"It's not that I... I mean..." Lenalee seemed flustered, putting her chopsticks down and shaking her head. "Lavi, I don't want you to think..."

"Really, it's okay," he repeated. She hesitated a moment longer, then nodded and stood, picking up her tray. She reached out as she passed, patting Lavi on the shoulder as if determined to prove that it wasn't his presence that had driven her off.

"Well, that's an improvement. She wouldn't have touched me a week ago," Lavi said, fixing his attention on his food. His smile was wavering a bit, Kanda noticed, and there was a pinched look around his eye. A moment later he rubbed his temple as if his headache had gotten worse, and winced.

"It would improve faster if you didn't spend all your time hiding from them," Kanda pointed out caustically. Not that he blamed Lavi, considering the way everyone was treating him like a dangerous creature that might bite if provoked in the least. "You're not acting the way you usually do, and that's throwing them off more."

"I would if I could, but I can't," Lavi sighed, and stopped trying quite so hard to act like he hadn't a care in the world. He propped his head on one hand and prodded his dinner with his fork, making no move to actually eat any of it. "It's hard to spend much time around other people. It hurts to see them flinch from me, and the more I try not to let it get to me, the louder Noah becomes. Not to mention that being close to people means I tend to see flashes of things about their pasts. I don't particularly _want_ to know that the finder over in the corner has managed to seduce at least three different Exorcists, or that Johnny likes to wear women's underwear when he's alone in his room."

"You see all that just from being near them?" Kanda said, appalled. Lavi had spent more time in _his_ presence since gaining these powers than around everyone else combined. How many of Kanda's secrets had he learned?

"Relax, Yuu," Lavi said, giving him a wry grin. "You may be the one person who's safe from me. I don't get glimpses of the past from you, just..." He broke off abruptly and flushed, shaking his head. Suddenly he was _very_ interested in his dinner, shovelling a huge mouthful of food into his mouth so he wouldn't have to keep talking.

"Just what?" Kanda demanded, suspicious. Lavi chewed industriously and refused to answer, which only made Kanda more irate. "Just _what_ , Lavi? What do you see?"

Finally Lavi had to swallow, and Kanda's hand snapped out to grab his wrist before he could take another bite. He looked up, startled, and met Kanda's eyes for an instant. Then his gaze went unfocused in the way Kanda had learned meant he was having another vision, and his flush deepened. "Tell me," Kanda insisted, tightening his grip until Lavi yelped and came back to the present.

"Nothing! It's nothing," Lavi mumbled, trying to pull his hand away. "You don't wanna know, Yuu. Trust me on this one."

"I _don't_ trust you," Kanda growled. "What the hell are you seeing? My death?"

"No, nothing like that," Lavi hastily assured him. "I'd warn you if I saw anything that might be a danger to you."

"Then what is it?"

"You _really_ don't wanna know," Lavi said, rather plaintively. When Kanda just glared at him, his shoulders slumped. "Don't say I didn't warn you. I keep getting visions of the two of us having sex."

That was such an utterly ludicrous proposition that it took a moment to sink in. When it finally did, Kanda sputtered and dropped Lavi's arm like a hot brick. "Wh- _what_?"

"I told you," Lavi said, looking amused despite himself.

"That's ridiculous!" Kanda snapped, feeling heat creep up the back of his neck. Him... and _Lavi_? Never. Lavi had been irritating at best and outright maddening at worst, even before he'd become a Noah. Maybe, in the very depths of his mind, Kanda could admit that Lavi was one of the more attractive men in the Order, and perhaps he'd even had a stray thought or two about the redhead when he couldn't ignore the needs of his body any longer, but that didn't mean _anything_.

Realizing they were drawing attention - though thank all the gods, Lavi had spoken quietly enough that nobody but Kanda would have been able to hear him - Kanda glared at the room in general. He heard at least one person squeak, and everyone was suddenly looking anywhere but at Lavi and Kanda. That didn't mean they weren't still listening, though.

"Not in a million years," he hissed, struggling to keep his own voice down. "Not if you were the last man on earth." Belatedly he realized he should have protested that he was only interested in women, but it was too late now.

Lavi's eyebrow rose. "Didn't realize you even went in for men, Yuu. That makes it marginally more likely, I s'ppose, but I agree with you. This has gotta be the one vision that's wrong. There's no way."

The reminder that all of Lavi's other visions had come true didn't sit well with Kanda. On the other hand, he'd rather the other man be seeing impossibilities like that than any bits of Kanda's past or private matters. "Exactly how often have you seen this?"

"More than I want to," Lavi muttered, ducking his head as his cheeks went pink enough to clash with his hair. Kanda remembered all the times when he'd seen Lavi blush to one degree or another after having a vision. It had happened more often than he cared to think about.

"Well, stop doing it!" Kanda couldn't remember being more mortified by anything in his life.

"Don't you think I would if I could?" Lavi protested, frowning. "Damn it, Yuu, I told you I don't want to see _any_ of this! Any more than Noah wanted to see that he was gonna be the only one to survive when God decided to go on a killing spree and drown everybody..."

"Stop it." Kanda would have dearly loved to smack the man with Mugen, but the best he could manage at the moment was kicking Lavi sharply under the table. When Lavi looked at him, startled, Kanda snarled at him. "Don't you dare sympathize with him, damn it."

For a moment longer Lavi seemed bewildered, but then he grimaced. "Fuck. You're right, I can't let myself think like that. Hell." He stood abruptly. "Y'know what? I'm not that hungry after all."

With that he fled, not even bothering to bring his mostly full tray to the counter. Kanda watched him go, torn between an instinct that urged him to follow and his own reluctance to get any further involved. This mess was already spiralling out of control, and he didn't want to be dragged down with it.

On the other hand, Lavi _was_ his responsibility, and that sort of erratic behaviour was exactly what Kanda was supposed to be watching him for. Cursing, he shoved his own dinner aside and followed.

He caught up with Lavi on the staircase that led to their rooms. The redhead had stopped with one hand white-knuckled on the banister, the other pressed against his eye. Lavi was making faint little whimpering noises, as if he was in extreme pain. Thankfully there was nobody else around.

"What is it?" Kanda demanded warily, wondering if it was some kind of powerful vision.

Lavi shook his head and made a noise suspiciously like a sob. "Just Noah fucking with me," he said, his voice choked. "You have no idea what it's like, having that much sheer anger and hatred simmering in the back of my head all the time." He looked down at Kanda two steps below him, his expression wary. "Truth is, I'm not nearly as confident I can hold him off forever as I keep telling everyone I am. The Earl was right - it's getting harder to ignore him as time goes on."

He looked like he was half expecting Kanda to kill him just for making the admission that he wasn't in complete control. In fact part of Kanda was screaming at him to do just that. If Lavi wasn't certain he could control himself, then he was exactly the threat Bookman kept claiming he was.

What stopped him was the thought of the map spread out over Lavi's floor, of the markings scribbled on it that represented hours of painstaking concentration and effort. Lavi was doing his best for the Order, despite the way everyone was treating him. Despite all the things he'd seen that he hadn't wanted to. Despite the pain that Kanda had seen Noah could cause him. Despite the doubt and fear that had to be eating him alive inside.

"Why do you do it?" Kanda demanded. Maybe if he could hear Lavi's reasons for himself, it would ease some of his own doubt. Lavi would hardly be the first person to overcome seemingly unbeatable odds with enough determination. "Why are you fighting?"

" _Why_?" Lavi looked at him like he was crazy for asking, but Kanda just stared him down. "Why... because I have to. The Noah are picking us off one by one, like a damned cat with a whole cage full of mice. If they could kill General Yeager, they could kill any of us. My power might make the difference, might be the only thing that could save us." He looked pained, but it wasn't a physical agony this time. It was emotional strain of the deepest sort, the fear of a man faced with losing everything that mattered to him. "If I can, I have to. You and Lenalee, Allen and Krory, even Exorcists I don't know all that well like Suman Dark or Noise Marie, you're all..."

Even in the dim light of the stairwell Kanda could see the way Lavi's eye suddenly flashed gold, and the other man gasped. Lavi collapsed abruptly, and Kanda barely managed to catch him before his head cracked open on the unforgiving stone.

Lavi was hyperventilating, his eye wide and unfocused, as if he was going into shock. Kanda shook him roughly, not sure what the hell he was supposed to do. "Lavi. Lavi! Snap out of it, damn it!"

A strong hand clutched at the collar of his jacket, and finally Lavi seemed to be aware of him. He stared up at Kanda with an expression of sheer horror. "Suman," he whispered, breathy and panicked. "Something... something is going to happen... Komui! Fuck, Yuu, I have to tell Komui..."

More than a little alarmed, Kanda rapidly considered his options. He shifted so Lavi could get his feet under him, slinging the redhead's arm over his shoulder and hauling him upright. "Let's go," he grunted, turning and heading back down the stairs towards Komui's office.

Lavi stumbled along beside him, still half lost in the vision. He was shaking hard enough that Kanda had a hard time keeping a good grip on him, and he finally wrapped his other arm around Lavi's waist in desperation. The other man had lost his hold on his human appearance, resuming his full Noah aspect. The few people who saw them went pale and turned tail in the opposite direction, which suited Kanda just fine.

"Komui," Kanda yelled the moment he judged they were within earshot of the man's office. He didn't much care if he drew everyone else's attention, too. This was obviously serious. "Komui! Get your ass out here, damn it."

The door opened and Komui came hurrying out, with Lenalee right behind him. His eyes went wide when he saw them, and Lenalee gasped. "Lavi!" she exclaimed, and came running towards them. To her credit she seemed to forget her fear in her worry for Lavi, and inserted herself under Lavi's other arm to help Kanda support him. "What happened?"

"I don't know, he just suddenly collapsed," Kanda said when Lavi didn't answer. "I think it was a vision. Something about Suman."

"Suman?" Lenalee repeated, her voice shaking. Komui held the door open for them and guided them into his office, then shut it tightly behind them.

"He's... something's going to happen," Lavi choked out the moment they were safely inside "I... I don't know when, or why, but... he's going to Fall."

"What? Suman?" Komui looked shocked, and well he should. Kanda was more than a little shocked himself. He hadn't worked with the other Exorcist often, but Suman had seemed reasonably competent on the few occasions Kanda had dealt with him.

"It's something to do with Tyki Mikk," Lavi said, sounding frustrated. His voice was gaining strength and he was leaning less of his weight on Kanda, shaking his head like he was struggling to clear it. "I can't see anything about the other Noah directly. I don't know if Noah is protecting them, or if their powers block mine, or what. All I know is that Suman is going to encounter Tyki, and at some point after that he is going to Fall."

"No! No, not Suman," Lenalee cried. "We have to stop it. There has to be something we can do. There has to be!"

"Call him back to headquarters. Now," Lavi said. "If you can get him out of the field in time, he won't encounter Tyki."

"He's out of reach, in an area with no phones," Komui said. "I wasn't expecting him or the rest of that unit to report in again for at least another week. I can send finders out after them..."

"I'll go," Lenalee volunteered immediately. "I can reach him much faster than the finders, and my golem can find his once I'm in range."

"No!" Lavi shuddered against Kanda. "Send me. I may be the only chance he's got."

Komui looked back at him, and even before he spoke Kanda knew what the answer was going to be. It was written all over the other man's face, regret and grief mixed with wariness. "Lenalee can travel faster than you can, Lavi. She'll..."

"She'll die," Lavi interrupted him harshly. "She'll die with the other two who are with Suman, when Tyki finds them. The moment she offered, I saw that. Believe that if you believe nothing else, Komui."

The threat to his sister was enough to make Komui reconsider, but Kanda could see that it wasn't going to be enough to convince him. "Don't be stupid, Komui," Kanda growled. "Send me with Lavi. We'll handle it."

"I'm the _only_ one that can face Tyki Mikk and come out alive," Lavi said, staring intently at Komui. Kanda could feel the way he'd gone tense, and he knew that the next few moments were going to be an important turning point. If Komui wouldn't trust Lavi now, they would lose three good men to prove that Lavi's visions were right. Possibly four, if he allowed Lenalee to go after Suman.

Komui hesitated a moment longer, but finally shook his head. "I'll contact all the finders in the area, send them to Suman's last known location with urgent messages. If you would be able to reach him in time from here, then they certainly will be able to find and warn him before Tyki shows up."

Lavi let out a long breath, and pulled away from Kanda and Lenalee to stand on his own. He looked shaky and upset, but determined. "You don't trust me," he said quietly. "I can't even blame you for it, but you and I aren't the ones who are going to pay for it. Please, Komui. Let me do this. Give me this chance to prove myself to everyone, and save lives in the process."

"It's not that I don't trust you, Lavi," Komui replied regretfully. "I'm under orders not to allow you out of headquarters."

"And there's nothing I can say to change your mind," Lavi stated. It wasn't a question. In his Noah aspect he looked strange, almost alien, his golden eyes shining with emotions Kanda couldn't read. "Just don't send Lenalee. Please."

"I'm not afraid," Lenalee said. "I can't just stand by and wait to hear that people I care about have died. Please, brother, you have to let me do something!"

"I've already got a mission for you, Lenalee," Komui said firmly, resting his hand on his sister's shoulder. "Allen is due back first thing tomorrow, and you and he are going to go looking for General Cross. We've had a new lead about his location, and we need him more now than ever."

Lenalee protested again, but Lavi had already turned and walked out of the room. Kanda followed him, not at all interested in getting caught up in the familial argument. He found Lavi standing just outside the office, staring blankly into the distance with a look of resigned sorrow. He'd pulled himself together enough to resume his human appearance, but there was still something indefinably 'other' about him.

"We're gonna lose," he murmured before Kanda could say anything. "Suman will Fall, and we're gonna lose more than just the two Exorcists with him before he does. At least three, maybe four, and several dozen finders as well. Komui will _never_ trust me, and that means I'm useless, locked up here. So are you, for that matter, since they need you to guard me."

"You're not useless," Kanda said, perturbed. Lavi's voice was flat, with no emotion in it at all, just as it had been when he'd spoken to the Earl. It made Kanda nervous, for no reason he could put his finger on. "You're making that map, and maybe you can't see a way to save Suman, but there will be other warnings you can give that will make a difference..."

"It's not enough." Lavi shook his head. "I could be doing a lot more than this, if they'd just give me the resources I need and the freedom to _act_. As it stands, no matter how hard I look, the future doesn't change. The Earl and Noah's clan will overpower the Order, it's that simple."

Lavi finally looked at him directly, and Kanda was disturbed to realize that his eye was still gold. "Unless something changes drastically, and _soon_... they _are_ going to lose."

Staring back at him, Kanda wondered uneasily just where in that conversation 'we' had changed to 'they'.


	7. Chapter 7

Try as he might, Kanda could not stop thinking about Lavi's words. If he got any sleep that night it was only in fits and starts. He was too disciplined to allow himself to toss and turn, but even his most advanced meditation techniques couldn't help him clear his mind.

The idea that they were going to lose the war and there was nothing they could do about it sat badly with Kanda. He had never been the sort of person to passively accept being told that he couldn't accomplish what he wanted to. It wasn't as if he could abandon the Order or his Innocence, and he was not going to stop fighting to the best of his abilities because it was predestined that they would lose. Somehow, some way, he _would_ find a way to succeed. Even if it killed him in the process.

He was even more concerned about Lavi's attitude when he'd made the prediction, especially the way he'd started talking about how 'they' were going to lose, as if he didn't consider himself a part of it. Perhaps that had just been a slip of the tongue, or due to rather justifiable anger at the way the rest of the Order was treating him. But perhaps it had been Noah's influence, just one more indication of how Lavi's control was eroding.

When he wasn't worrying at those two problems like a dog with a bone, Kanda caught himself thinking about the _other_ thing Lavi had said. The ridiculous thing, the one that he wasn't allowing himself to contemplate seriously, except that he couldn't seem to make himself stop. He kept trying to picture some circumstance under which the vision could come true, and...

...and the truth was, the more he thought about it the less ridiculous it seemed. There was an implied admission that Lavi was interested in men as well, something that would never have occurred to Kanda given the way the redhead was so obsessed with flirting with pretty women. They would hardly be the first people in the Order to pair off for a bit of stress relief, or out of an instinctive need for human contact and to reaffirm the power of life. Certainly Kanda's body was happy to let him know it had no objections to the idea.

Except Lavi wasn't just another Exorcist. He was a Noah, for one thing, which meant Kanda could never quite trust him completely. More importantly he was _Lavi_ , possibly the biggest and most irritating thorn in Kanda's side since he'd joined the Order. Not that Kanda needed to like the man in order to have sex with him, and Lavi certainly hadn't said anything about affection being involved in the equation.

In sheer desperation Kanda finally hauled himself out of bed hours earlier than he usually rose, and spent the time doing intense shadow sparring with Mugen down in the practice rooms. The concentration necessary to perform the drills emptied his mind of other thoughts at last, and the long, extremely cold shower he took afterwards helped deal with the rest of the problem.

Lavi wasn't there when Kanda arrived for breakfast, but Lenalee spotted him in line and hurried over. "Kanda! Where's Lavi, is he okay? Did he say anything else? I argued for hours, but I couldn't convince brother to let you two go after Suman. It's not really his fault, his orders from the grand generals were very specific, but it's frustrating."

Knowing that Lenalee had argued on Lavi's behalf made Kanda slightly less hostile towards her. "I haven't seen him since last night," he grudgingly admitted. He hesitated, but finally decided there was no good reason to tell other people that Lavi had foreseen they would lose, and a lot of good reasons _not_ to. "He didn't say anything else, just went back to his room."

"It's not fair." Lenalee shook her head. "It's not fair, and it's not right, what they're doing to him. I know I've been guilty of... of having trouble dealing with him now... but it's still not right." She sighed. "He can't have eaten much last night, I'd barely gotten to brother's office when we heard you yelling. Maybe I should take him some food as a peace offering?"

"Do what you like, it doesn't matter to me," Kanda told her. At least it would probably put Lavi in a better mood, which would make him easier to deal with. Hopefully.

"I will, then," Lenalee decided, nodding. "I'll just..."

"Lenalee!" Allen poked his head in the door and looked around until he'd spotted her. "There you are. Are you ready yet? If we don't go soon, we'll miss the train."

"What?" Lenalee looked dismayed. "It can't be that late already, can it? I'm packed, but..." She looked from Allen to Kanda, uncertain. "Lavi... but there isn't another train until tomorrow..."

"It's not as if he'll starve to death, Lenalee," Kanda said, a bit caustically.

"No, but I'll be gone for so long and he won't know I wanted to apologize!" Lenalee caught his sleeve and looked up at him pleadingly. "Kanda, you'll tell him, won't you? He'll believe it if _you_ tell him, because you wouldn't make something like that up just to make him feel better. Please? Promise?"

Irritably Kanda tugged free of her grip, but he knew from past experience that she wouldn't give up until she'd gotten what she wanted. Lenalee could be annoyingly persistent when she put her mind to something. "Fine, whatever," he muttered. When she still just stood there, he sighed. "You have my word."

"Thank you!" She beamed up at him, and for a horrible second he thought she might try to hug him. Thankfully she seemed to regain her senses, and hurried off to join Allen with nothing more than a wave.

Never one to linger over his food, Kanda finished his breakfast quickly and headed straight for Lavi's room, figuring it was better to get it out of the way now. Halfway there it occurred to him that perhaps he should have brought bread or something with him, because Lenalee was right about how little Lavi had eaten the day before. It took him about ten seconds to decide it was Lavi's own damn fault. If he was hungry he could go to the cafeteria, he didn't need Kanda to hover over him like a baby.

There was no answer to his rap on the door, but he'd expected that. What Kanda hadn't expected was to find Lavi sprawled over his desk, head pillowed on one arm and a pen still held loosely in his other hand. He'd apparently been asleep for some time, because the ink on the quill had run onto the paper to form a big splotch that had already dried. Quietly Kanda approached, trying to decide how best to wake him, or if he even should.

Lavi wasn't wearing his eyepatch again. With it off and his face slack in sleep, the dark circles under his eyes were that much more obvious, as was the unnaturally pale quality to his skin that suggested he hadn't seen the sun in longer than was healthy. There was a pinched look around his eyes that indicated he was in pain, even in his sleep. He looked much younger and far more vulnerable than Kanda had ever seen him before.

Looking at him, Kanda wondered how long it would be before the incredible pressures the other man was under finally broke him. When it happened it would be Kanda's job to take care of the problem, just as he'd promised. Kanda wouldn't hesitate, in no small part because Lavi had made it obvious that he didn't want pity and because at that point Lavi would be nothing more than a threat.

But, somewhat to his surprise, Kanda found that he would regret the necessity. His respect for the aggravating redhead had risen sharply over the last few weeks. In all honestly Kanda wasn't sure _he_ would have held up as well against the sort of strain Lavi was under.

He turned to go, figuring if Lavi was asleep at his desk it was probably because he hadn't gotten any more rest than Kanda had the night before. Lenalee's message could always be delivered later. Before he reached the door, however, he heard sounds of stirring behind him followed by a pained groan.

"Owww... what the hell?"

Looking back, Kanda saw Lavi sitting up and wincing as he rubbed at his neck. When he spotted Kanda by the door, Lavi's expression turned sheepish. "Guess I fell asleep at my desk, huh? Well, it's not the first time and prob'ly won't be the last. It's times like this I miss Bookman the most."

"What? Why?" Kanda asked, startled by the seeming non sequitur.

Lavi gave him a wry smile. "Cricks in the neck are sorta an occupational hazard for Bookmen. And the old panda was a damned good acupuncturist even before he got the Heaven's Compass." He stood and stretched, wincing as his back cracked. "Mmph. Oh, well. No point crying over spilt milk. I s'ppose I missed breakfast. Man, I'm starving."

"Lenalee was going to bring you something as a peace offering, but she had to leave to catch her train," Kanda dutifully relayed his message. "Apparently she tried to argue Komui into letting us go find Suman, but..."

"Yeah, I know, I was watching," Lavi said, shrugging. His smile turned resigned. "Nice to know _someone_ is starting to believe in me, anyway. But it might be just as well she didn't win."

"What?" Kanda stared at him, startled. Lavi had made it very clear the night before that Suman's only hope was if Lavi was the one who went to warn him. How could it be 'just as well' that they were still stuck here in the Order?

Correctly interpreting his expression, Lavi shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, having Suman Fall will be a massive blow to morale, not to mention losing all those other people that are somehow connected. But I had another vision last night. There's a Noah targeting General Tiedoll, and they're going to reach him soon. Suman Falling is bad, but losing another general would be worse. After what happened to Yeager... well, the Order can't afford that kind of loss a second time."

Kanda felt sick. He knew Tiedoll, had a great deal of respect for the man. Noise Marie and Daisya Barry were assigned as his guards at the moment, and they were both Exorcists he respected as well. Lavi was right, losing the three of them would be a much bigger problem than Suman and the two men with him.

"We have to tell Komui," he said numbly, though he already knew in his heart what Komui's answer would be.

Lavi's cynical laugh said the redhead was aware of it, too. "C'mon, Yuu. You think his response to this will be any different than what he did about Suman? Best case scenario, he sends a couple of finders. Worst case is he sends Bookman and Krory, and they get hit by the attack as well. Neither will stop the Noah from coming." He met Kanda's eyes, the dichotomy between his green and gold eyes unnerving. "I'm still the only one who can face a Noah and come out alive and sane."

"You just said yourself Komui won't allow you to go," Kanda snapped, not sure what the hell Lavi wanted from him. Although he'd initially hoped that Lavi's ability to foresee the future would mean good things for the Order, it seemed like all he ever had to offer was doom and despair. Kanda would frankly rather not have known ahead of time, if there was no possible solution.

"Yeah, well, I've always been a firm believer in the philosophy that it's easier to ask forgiveness than permission," Lavi said, with a touch of bitterness. "I can sneak out of the Order easily enough, it's not hard when you can see where everyone is and what's gonna get you caught. But I couldn't find a way t'do it that didn't end up with you coming after me and catching me before I got to Tiedoll. So I need your help."

To Kanda's shock, Lavi put his hands at his side and bowed in the Japanese style, his eyes down. He couldn't have bowed any lower unless he'd gone down on his knees. "Please, Yuu. Help me. I have to do this."

Kanda's mind raced over their options, and there was only one conclusion he could come to. Lavi was right. Komui would never let him go, but this was his one chance to both prove himself and strike a resounding blow on behalf of the Order. If they could save Tiedoll, it might finally convince the grand generals of Lavi's sincerity, and that might be the drastic change Lavi had said would be needed for them to win.

"All right, fine, just... stop that," he said, uncomfortable at seeing Lavi bow to him like some kind of supplicant. "We'll go. Get your things."

"Are you kidding me?" Lavi's smile when he straightened was back to its old brilliance, and for once Kanda was sure it was real. "Whaddaya think I spent the whole night doing?" He snagged a pack from where it had been hidden beside his desk, and patted his holster to be sure his hammer was in place. He nodded at the papers on the desk. "I got most of the translation done, at least. Figured I'd better make sure someone other than Bookman could read my map markings, just in case. I know you're _always_ ready for a mission on a moment's notice, so let's go."

He practically bounced towards the door, full of his customary energy and enthusiasm. Kanda nodded and reached for the knob, but to his surprise Lavi put a hand on the door and held it closed.

"Just one thing... since you're apparently not gonna kill me for this, much to my surprise," Lavi said, grinning at him. Before Kanda could quite register how close he was standing or the gleam in his eyes, the other man had leaned in and fastened his mouth to Kanda's, kissing him rather thoroughly.

There was no hesitation or uncertainty in the kiss; Lavi knew exactly what he was doing and how to make it feel good. Kanda found he was responding despite himself, caught between the door and Lavi's warm body and not really wanting to get free.

Once the initial shock wore off, however, he managed to get hold of himself enough to lift his hands and shove sharply at Lavi. The other man backed off the moment Kanda resisted, standing wisely just out of reach. Lavi's smile was unusually warm, and there was something about the look in his mismatched eyes that made a shiver go straight down Kanda's spine.

"I _should_ run you through for that," Kanda snapped, desperately trying to recover his composure.

"Prob'ly, but you won't," Lavi informed him cheerfully. "Believe me, I checked at least three times to make sure I was actually gonna survive that. Now c'mon, we don't have much time if we want to get to Tiedoll."

Reminded of the urgency of their mission, Kanda decided it was best to just drop the whole thing and forget it had ever happened. And if Lavi ever tried something of the sort again, Kanda _would_ kill him. No matter how good it had felt.

* * *

Tiedoll was, of course, out in the middle of nowhere, and sneaking out of the Order had meant they couldn't take any golems with them. Without Lavi's visions to guide them they probably would never have found the man. Lavi and Kanda ran from the moment they disembarked the train, resting by travelling on Lavi's hammer whenever the road was straight enough or the surrounding area clear enough to allow them to move in a straight line.

By the time Lavi called a halt at a crossroads in the middle of a forest, they were both thoroughly winded and exhausted. "Okay," the redhead panted, grounding his hammer and leaning on it for support. "He's heading towards us, he'll be here in about five minutes. We might as well wait here and catch our breath."

Kanda nodded, struggling not to show that he was just as tired as Lavi. It had been a long journey, and they'd covered the distance much faster than they should have been able to. He only hoped it had been fast enough. Presumably, since Lavi was saying they had time to wait here. "When is the attack going to happen, can you tell yet?" he asked, scanning the surrounding area. There were none of the usual indications of the presence of Akuma, but the Noah might decide to come alone.

"In about five minutes," Lavi answered, his voice flat.

"What? But you just said..." Even as he spoke Kanda's brain caught up with his mouth, and he cursed himself for letting his guard down even for a moment. He spun on one foot, but something heavy crashed into him and sent him flying before he could see Lavi behind him.

He hit a tree hard enough to drive all the breath from his body, but his fingers were already closing around Mugen's hilt. "Kaichuu..." he wheezed, not bothering to even draw the sword. He didn't have time, not if he wanted to have a hope in hell of coming out of this alive.

"Oh, no you don't," Lavi said, and the weight pressing against Kanda suddenly tripled. The massive old oak tree groaned in protest at the strain, and Kanda felt like every bone in his body was going to be crushed. "Sorry, Yuu, but I can't let you keep your promise just yet."

Kanda's whole arm went numb, and his fingers slipped from Mugen's hilt despite his best efforts to keep them in place. Black spots were dancing in his vision, and it wouldn't be long before he blacked out entirely. Once that happened... well, Lavi knew how fast Kanda could regenerate. He wouldn't leave until he was sure Kanda was well and truly dead.

"You..." Kanda forced the words out, wrenching his head around to allow him to see the other man. Lavi was in his full Noah aspect, golden eyes a bright contrast to his black skin and the dark marks of the stigmata spread over his brow. "There was never a Noah going to attack Tiedoll, was there?" How could he have been such a trusting _fool_? How long had Lavi been planning this?

"Sure there is, Yuu," Lavi said, speaking with the sort of patience you used when instructing a particularly slow five-year-old. "Me." He shook his head, and he didn't look as mocking as Kanda would have expected him to. If anything, he looked regretful. "I wish it didn't have to happen this way. You're the only one who stuck with me right from the start, and I tried to find a way to do this that didn't involve dragging you into it. But I was telling the truth when I said I couldn't find a way to stop you from catching up to me before I could get to Tiedoll."

There were several choice words Kanda could have said in response to that, most of them rather foul language, but he had no air left to give voice to them. Kanda struggled despite knowing it was hopeless, swearing at himself for being stupid enough to turn his back on the Noah. He couldn't die, not now, not like _this_!

"I won't be on the losing side," Lavi declared, moving forward so he could lean in close, though he didn't let up on the pressure pinning Kanda to the tree. The world faded from view despite Kanda's best efforts to cling to consciousness, and his body stopped even feebly responding to his attempts to fight.

The last thing Kanda was aware of was a light brush against his cheek, like lips over his skin, and Lavi's whispered words. "But I kinda wish I didn't have to lose you in the process. I'll always wonder about that vision. Guess it was impossible after all."

Then there was nothing but darkness.

* * *

The apples, bright red and luscious looking, drew his eye amidst the brown and tan and grey of the city street. There were surprisingly few people around to block his view, too. Not unconscious of the inherent irony, Tyki wandered over to the stall and snagged one off the top. "I'll take one of these," he said, flipping the lady behind the stand a coin.

"Ah, I'm about to close up, so why don't you take a few more?" the woman invited him as he started to walk away.

"Oh? Thank you," Tyki said, surprised. He removed his hat and started gathering more apples into it, lacking any other convenient way to carry the large fruits.

"Those do look good," another voice spoke from behind him, and a hand reached past Tyki to snag one right out from under the Noah's hand. Tyki looked up, and found himself face to face with a vaguely-familiar looking man in an Exorcist's jacket.

How had an Exorcist found him _here_? There was no doubt the man knew him for what he was; his single green eye was fixed on Tyki, paying no attention to everyone around them. At least he hadn't attacked outright. Well, that was typical for an Exorcist, not wanting to hurt any innocent humans who might be around.

"Something I can do for you, friend?" Tyki asked the man, his hands twitching as he fought the automatic impulse to plunge them into the Exorcist's chest and squeeze until the man screamed for mercy. Not that he would get any; Tyki's Black Side didn't know the meaning of the word.

"We need to talk," the man said softly, his voice curiously flat. He closed his eye briefly, and when he opened it again the bright green had turned gold.

Tyki knew that particular shade of gold very well indeed, and his own eyes went wide. The Earl had mentioned at their last dinner that they would have a new brother shortly, and he'd certainly been highly amused by _something_ about the emerging Noah, but he hadn't mentioned it was an _Exorcist_. Small wonder he'd been acting like a child with a treat who didn't want to share.

"Indeed." Tyki cocked his head at the newcomer, still trying to place why the man looked familiar. "Shall we?" he tipped his head towards the increasingly empty street, a wary invitation.

"You boys be careful! Make sure you get into shelter soon," the woman called as they walked away, seeming worried about them. The stranger bit into the apple he'd taken, and Tyki did the same. They truly were as delicious as they looked.

The further they walked, the more the stranger changed. The other man was no longer a redhead, his black hair tumbling carelessly down over his face when he shook it out after removing the eyepatch. The seven dark stars of the Crown of Thorns appeared on his forehead. No, there could be no doubt at all. This was indeed the newest of Noah's clan.

"Well, well," Tyki murmured once they were alone, assuming his own Noah aspect. "This is a surprise. And it explains a great deal about the Earl's recent behaviour. Don't I know you from somewhere?"

The other Noah gave him a sharp smile. "On the train. Allen beat the pants off you and your friends... literally. The Earl doesn't stay in one place long enough for me to find him, so I figured I'd go looking for the closest Noah. Happened to be you."

"Hmm." Tyki tapped one finger against his mouth, regarding the other man steadily. "Interesting that you could find me at all. The Earl knows how to contact me, but I don't believe any of the others would actually be able to locate me in person."

The Exorcist spread his arms wide. "I'm Noah's Vision," he said, as if that explained everything. Perhaps it did. "I can find anything, given enough time. You can call me Lavi... it's as good a name as any. And you're Tyki."

It wasn't a question, but Tyki nodded anyway. "I am forced to wonder just how much we can trust someone who comes from our enemies," Tyki murmured. "How do we know you will be loyal to us, now?" He knew better than most of the others that it was possible to resist Noah's influence, at least to a certain extent. He paid for his 'white' side by the sheer viciousness of his 'black' personality, but it was possible this man had worked out something similar for himself.

The Exorcist held up one hand, palm up, and Tyki's hands twitched again at the sight of what he held. The Innocence shone brightly even in its inactivated element state, like light somehow solidified. It was the antithesis of the dark power the Noah held, and represented everything they hated most.

"How's this for proof?" Lavi asked, and slowly tightened his hand over the cube. It resisted for a moment, and his face twisted as if he was in agony. Dark power surged over the Innocence, and finally it shattered beneath the pressure. Tiny motes of glowing dust sifted through his fingers, and the pain on his face eased.

"Does it hurt?" Tyki asked, fascinated. It certainly didn't hurt him or any of the others to destroy Innocence... but then, the Innocence he'd dealt with hadn't been _his_.

"Like cutting your own arm off," Lavi replied dryly. "Well? Is that enough to prove where my loyalties lie?"

"Quite." Tyki smiled warmly at the newcomer, and held out one hand. Yes, he could certainly understand why the Earl had been so very pleased about this one. "Welcome to the family... brother."


	8. Chapter 8

Awareness came back to Kanda in stages. Hearing was first, the distant sound of hushed voices distorted as if he was hearing them from underwater. Then came touch, the feel of rough fabric under his hand and twinges of pain every time he so much as twitched. It finally occurred to him that perhaps he should open his eyes, and when he did he saw a swaying canopy of multi-hued green that eventually resolved itself into leaves and branches.

Slowly it dawned on him that he was still alive. Considering how absolutely certain he'd been that he was about to die, this was a startling discovery. Close on the heels of that thought was the realization that if he _was_ still alive, he had much more important things to be doing than lying around like a useless lump.

Summoning all his strength, he forced his reluctant body to respond. Everything felt stiff, as if he'd been motionless for a long time, and 'pain' was far too mild a word for what he was experiencing. But Kanda had fought through worse, and he wouldn't allow his body to dictate what he could and couldn't do.

"Holy mother of... hey! He's awake!"

For a horrible moment Kanda thought the enthusiastic shout had been Lavi, and he scrambled to get his hand around Mugen's hilt before the Noah could attack him again. To his dismay his hand closed on nothing but air where Mugen should have been, and he gave a muffled cry.

"Oh, hey, you lookin' for Mugen? It's right here, no worries," the speaker said, and a moment later the familiar hilt was placed in his hand. Blinking up at the man leaning over him, Kanda finally recognized him as Daisya Barry, not Lavi at all.

Wait. Daisya had been sent out to meet up with Tiedoll some time ago, and Lavi had been on his way to kill the general. Why was Daisya here, but still alive? "What happened?" Kanda rasped, struggling into a sitting position.

"You had a very close call," another voice answered him, this one calm and carrying a hint of deep wisdom. Kanda's vision was still swimming, but after a moment he was able to identify both Froi Tiedoll and Noise Marie as the men leaning against two more trees nearby. The rough material Kanda had been lying on turned out to be Daisya's cloak, spread out beneath him to protect him from the hard ground.

"You both did," Daisya said, leaning back on his heels once he was satisfied Kanda was ok. "I guess he caught you by surprise too, huh? Man, you shouldn't even be alive! I couldn't believe it when we found you and I realized you were still breathing. How do you feel?"

"Crushed," Kanda grunted, testing each muscle and joint of his body. Everything hurt, but clearly the lotus spell had done its work once again. In another day or so he would be fine, but he'd probably lost at least one petal. But why hadn't Lavi finished him off? Why had he left any of them alive?

Perhaps correctly interpreting Kanda's confused expression, Tiedoll gave him some of the details. "The Noah had disguised himself somehow to look like one of the Exorcists, Lavi. He came running up to me looking frantic, and I didn't suspect anything. By the time I realized there was something wrong, it was far too late for me to draw my Innocence." Tiedoll grimaced and rubbed his shoulder, and for the first time Kanda realized the other man looked more than a little singed. "Strange, though. I've seen Lavi use his Innocence in the past, and the attack the Noah used was remarkably similar to his fire seal."

"Why would one of the Noah bother to imitate our abilities?" Daisya wondered aloud, scratching at his head. "I mean, makes sense to impersonate one of us for camouflage, but why copy our attacks, too? Some kinda weird mimic, maybe?"

"He wasn't mimicking. It _was_ Lavi," Kanda informed them sourly, far too aware of his own failure to keep his promise to stop Lavi before Noah could take him over completely. "I'm surprised you hadn't heard already; I guess Komui was trying to keep it contained. He awakened as a Noah a few weeks ago, but he claimed he was still on our side and trying to help us. The grand generals ordered him confined to headquarters, but he tricked me into agreeing to help him escape when he said he'd seen a vision of Tiedoll being attacked by a Noah."

"Well, he was," Daisya pointed out with a certain amount of irreverent humour that Kanda didn't approve of in the least. "You two're just lucky Marie heard the fighting and got us both here in time to save you. Didn't see the Noah, but we managed to get you two patched up before you bled out or died from exposure."

"I don't understand why he left us alive," Kanda growled, shaking his head. That proved to be a mistake, as the world spun around him for a moment; apparently he had a concussion as well as all his other injuries.

"If it truly was Lavi, that explains why it seemed to pain him to use his Innocence against me," Tiedoll said. "Frankly I'm surprised he was able to do so at all. He'll have to destroy it soon, or he'll Fall."

"That was exactly the argument he used to convince me to trust him in the first place," Kanda said. "That he had to still be on our side, or he'd have Fallen. So much for that theory."

"It's not necessarily an instantaneous process," Tiedoll replied, his expression one of grief. "Regardless, that difficulty may explain why he left us alive - and still in possession of our Innocence, though he took all the unactivated pieces I was carrying."

Kanda winced at that. Losing that much Innocence all at once would be a hard blow to the Order. Presumably none of those pieces had been the Heart, or their Innocence would have crumbled as well. But why hadn't Lavi taken Mugen and Maker of Eden? "We have to go after him."

"He's long gone, and you ain't in any shape to go chasing him," Daisya pointed out with a sigh.

"He was already out of my range when we reached you," Noise said, his deep voice rumbling. "We'll never find him now."

Swearing, Kanda pounded one fist impotently on the ground. Damn it, it was his job to stop Lavi, and he wasn't getting off to a very good start. It was only due to luck that Lavi hadn't killed him and Tiedoll. Kanda had to stop the traitor before he did any more damage.

But first he had to find him... and before that, he acknowledged sourly, he needed to finish healing. "I have to report back to Komui," he said, trying to think despite the ache in his head. "They must realize we've left by now, but I don't want them thinking I've deserted as well."

"You might as well stick with us, then," Daisya said, almost cheerfully. "Don't think you're gonna be getting much of anywhere by yourself for the next little while. And maybe you can help us persuade the general here to go back to the Order to get checked over."

"I can't go to hide safe behind stone walls while others risk their lives," Tiedoll said, his voice soft but firm. "We're fighting a war, and a good general must be out on the field. Besides, I must search for more people who can use the Innocence. Once we reach a place where we can contact the Order, I'll find out where the nearest general is and take half of what they're carrying." He sighed. "Reporting the loss of so many pieces won't be easy."

"It ain't your fault, general!" Daisya protested. "No way you coulda known the guy was really a Noah."

"No, it's my fault," Kanda grated out, feeling the shame of it threatening to overwhelm him. Shame, and rage - rage that Lavi had tricked him, rage that he'd allowed himself to be tricked. "The Order only let him come back in the first place because I vouched for him, and then I walked right into his damned trap."

"Hey, not like you coulda known either," Daisya said, apparently determined to make his point. "Nobody can see the future."

"Lavi can," Kanda replied sourly, the words feeling like salt rubbed into an open wound. "That's why we were out here in the first damned place, because he said he foresaw an attack on Tiedoll."

That stymied Daisya momentarily, but he rallied quickly. "Well, okay, but _you_ can't. He coulda been legit, and then you'd've felt pretty dumb if you'd refused to help him and the general here got killed. I mean..."

"Hush!"

The sudden interjection from Marie startled Daisya into brief silence. Kanda might have said something, but he'd worked with Noise Marie in the past and he recognized that particular tone of voice. The other man was sitting with his head slightly cocked, listening hard to something none of the rest of them could hear.

"How many are there?" Kanda asked when Marie had said nothing after a long moment and it looked like Daisya was ready to start talking again.

"One hundred... two hundred... too many for me to count," the big man said slowly, his attention obviously still far away. "I've never heard so many in one place."

"Akuma?" Daisya said, startled and dismayed. "Shit. Where are they going? Why so many?"

"They're east of us, and heading south," Marie said.

"What's east and south of here?" Kanda asked, trying to visualize a map of Europe in his head. It didn't help that he wasn't entirely certain where _he_ was, since he'd simply been following Lavi's directions.

"Spain," General Tiedoll answered, sounding subdued. "Specifically, Barcelona. And a great many innocent people. But I don't know why they would be gathering there."

"I bet I have a guess," Kanda growled, forcing himself to his feet despite the agonized protest of his body. Already he was moving easier, thanks to the lotus spell. By the time they caught up with the Akuma, he would be healed or close enough to it. "When Lavi first awakened and left the Order, he spent the time holed up in a town full of nothing but Akuma. I believed him when he said he hadn't created them, but now I'm not so sure. Either way, he's demonstrated a tendency to gather them to him. I'm going after him."

"Not alone, you ain't!" Daisya protested, jumping to his feet as well. "You can hardly move!"

Kanda opened his mouth to argue, but Tiedoll cut him off. "We're all going," the general declared, his tone leaving no room for argument. "We must save the city if we can. If we're lucky, he won't have destroyed the Innocence yet and we'll even be able to rescue it."

Kanda knew the odds of that were incredibly slim, and he could see from the look in Tiedoll's eyes that the general knew it as well.

* * *

If anything, Kanda decided, Noise had greatly underestimated the number of Akuma converging on Barcelona. There was no end to the blasted things; for every one he destroyed, there were three more to take its place. There had been no sign of Lavi, and Kanda was starting to doubt his initial assumption that the former Exorcist was behind this. Surely even a Noah couldn't gather this many Akuma to one place in less than a day.

Slashing through two of the monsters at once, Kanda won himself a moment of breathing space. Spotting an opening between two walls, he ducked into the narrow space just in time to avoid four new Akuma that floated around a corner. Pressed against the wall, struggling to keep his breathing deep and even instead of panting like an exhausted dog, Kanda waited while they silently drifted past his hiding place.

Once he was certain he wasn't about to be discovered, he slid slowly down to sit on the ground. Even his stamina wasn't endless, and they had a long way to go before this battle would be over. Better that he take the time to regain his strength whenever he had the chance, especially since the last effects of his earlier concussion were stubbornly hanging on.

Static sounded from the golem flying over his shoulder, lent to him by Tiedoll for the battle. "Looks li... 've be... plit up," Daisya's voice commented, crackling badly enough that Kanda could hardly understand the words.

"There were more of them than I imagined," Kanda said grimly. Marie gave a grunt of assent.

"Ahh, I... ungry," Daisya complained.

"You're breaking up, Daisya," Marie said, and his voice at least came through loud and clear. That reassured Kanda that it wasn't his golem that was malfunctioning.

"Where are you guys now?" Kanda asked. He didn't much like how easily they'd all been separated. He didn't _think_ the Akuma had planned things that way, they weren't that smart. On the other hand, that might argue for Lavi being involved in the whole mess after all.

"Thr... ometres to the eas... big tower," Daisya answered.

"I am... about five kilometres to the west. I can see Akuma fighting and being destroyed to the north, as well," Marie added.

"That must be Tiedoll, because I'm to the south," Kanda said. He wasn't surprised Tiedoll was making enough of a display to be seen from such a distance; the power wielded by the generals tended to be showy, even if they themselves were not.

"Maaan, loo... ike it... onna b... long nigh..."

"I can hear Akuma everywhere," Marie said heavily. "We ended up right in their midst."

"Let's meet up," Kanda suggested, uneasy. "If we're all within ten kilometres, we can determine our locations with the golems."

"Then Kan... nd I will go mee... Marie's pla..."

"Time?" Marie asked.

"By dawn," Kanda replied, as the waterway in front of him started to boil. He was about to have company, and chances were good these wouldn't be the only Akuma between him and Marie's location.

"You guys re... tta know bett.. an to split up."

Despite the interference it was obvious that the voice was too high and had the wrong accent to be Daisya, but it was so familiar that it took Kanda's hindbrain a moment to register that he should not have been hearing _that_ voice in _this_ battle. "Lavi?" he gasped. "Daisya! Daisya, answer me!"

There was a distant shout over the static, like horror or shock, but it wasn't Daisya who answered him. "Sor... Yuu, Dai... ttle busy righ... ow. A thir... vel might be... it much for him."

Kanda felt a chill run down his spine. He couldn't have heard that right, could he? A _third_ level? Was there such a thing?

Well, there was nothing stopping a second level Akuma from continuing to kill and gain power, and there was no reason to think that there wouldn't be more possible forms for it to take as it grew. Considering how much stronger than the first levels the second levels were, the thought of a third level was terrifying.

Worse, how _many_ of them were there? Surely there couldn't be more than one. Surely.

"Marie!" Kanda shouted. He activated the Hell's Insects and sent them swarming over the Akuma that had exploded up out of the water in front of him. He couldn't get to Daisya until he'd taken care of this bunch, but Noise Marie was even farther from the other Exorcist than Kanda was. "Marie, can you get to him?"

A grunt and the sound of explosions was his only response, but it was answer enough. Marie was just as occupied as he was. Swearing, Kanda found strength he hadn't even known he possessed and tore through the Akuma before him. He hit the ground running, Mugen's blade already reforming in his hands, all thoughts of exhaustion vanished before his desperate need to reach Daisya.

There was nothing but static and the occasional yell of pain coming from Daisya's golem now, and Kanda didn't waste his breath trying to call to the other man. He reflexively destroyed any Akuma that drifted into his path, hardly even noticing them, his attention was so focused on the area ahead where Daisya had to be.

Kanda heard them before he saw them, the ringing sound of Daisya's Innocence matched by a high-pitched giggling that had to be coming from an Akuma. It couldn't have been more than one street away from him, but the solid row of houses before Kanda offered no way through to the other side. Growling, he leapt up onto the nearest balcony, pushing off that to land on an ornamental gargoyle, then launching himself up to the roof.

He spotted Lavi first, perched casually on a rooftop across the street, his chin in his hand and elbow propped on his knee. The traitor was in his full Noah aspect, of course, and he seemed to be having a great deal of fun watching something below them. Though Kanda was highly reluctant to take his eyes off the bastard, Daisya's shout of agony drew his unwilling attention.

The other Exorcist was badly battered, and was clearly on the losing side of the battle. The third level - yes, it _had_ to be a third level, it was nothing like any second level Kanda had ever seen - was laughing as it clutched the Charity Bell in one hand, and dangled Daisya by the leg from his other hand. "You think you can hurt me with this puny bit of sound?" the Akuma asked, tossing the bell negligently in its hand. "It will take more than this to win against me, pitiful one."

"Then try this," Kanda snarled, Mugen flashing in his hands as he dropped from the roof straight towards the Akuma. "Kaichuu: Ichigen!"

The Insects swarmed over the Akuma, but to Kanda's horror it simply batted them away with another laugh. It was forced to drop Daisya, at least, but the other Exorcist landed in a crumpled heap with a groan that said he probably wasn't going to be getting back up any time soon.

"There, see? It didn't take you until dawn to meet back up," Lavi taunted from his position above them. "I knew y'could do it if you put your mind to it, Yuu."

"Shut up!" Kanda snarled, reforming the Insect's into Mugen's blade and pointing straight at the traitor. Lavi only smiled mockingly, probably knowing that Kanda couldn't risk sending the Insects after him without inviting attack from the third level.

"Aw, now I've got two Exorcists to play with!" the third level cheered, leering down at him. "Thank you, Noah-sama!"

"I said I'd make sure you had a challenge worthy of you, didn't I?" Lavi said indulgently. "Have as much fun as you like."

Kanda growled and clutched Mugen's hilt. Lavi obviously believed he'd thoroughly gained the upper hand, but he didn't know _everything_ about Kanda's powers. If he thought the Insects were all Kanda had to use, he was about to discover he was sorely mistaken.

"Nigentou!" he shouted, and felt energy blaze up from his Innocence. It wrapped itself around his body and coalesced in his left hand, forming a mirror image of Mugen. It might not be solid, but it was just as real and just as deadly as the original. "Hakka Tourou!"

He blasted past the Akuma too fast for even it to follow, and in his wake eight long slashes appeared on the monster's torso. It screeched and clawed at the marks as if attempting to scrape them off its body, but the damage was already done. A huge chunk of its body exploded, leaving it staggered... but, to Kanda's horror, not finished.

Laughing, it lifted a hand, obviously preparing some spell of its own. Kanda spun to face it, bringing the two swords up to cross in front of him, prepared to hold off whatever attack was coming.

"Charity Bell!"

Something small and round smashed into the Akuma, hardly even making a scratch compared to the damage the Eight Flower Praying Mantis had wrought. But Kanda smiled, knowing what was coming. With its defences already weakened the Akuma began to resonate like a giant bell, the sound echoing through the street in waves that shattered every window in the surrounding area. With a scream the Akuma exploded, leaving nothing behind but sparks and flames.

Slow clapping sounded from above them, and Kanda looked up to find that Lavi had stood and was applauding them. "Well done, guys!" the Noah congratulated them cheerfully. "You only had 'bout a fifty percent chance of surviving that, but you pulled it off nicely. Thanks for using that attack, Yuu. I've been dying t'see it for real ever since I first saw the possibility of it."

Kanda promptly drew back to launch another attack at the Noah. If he liked it that much, Kanda would be happy to show him the effect up close and personal. Before he could gather the necessary focus, however, Lavi continued.

"Sorry to just abandon you guys, but I gotta get going. I've got a timetable to keep, y'know." Grinning, Lavi tipped an imaginary hat in their direction and jumped back off the roof, disappearing out of sight behind the building.

Growling, Kanda considered going after him. But a quick glance at Daisya told him clearly why Lavi had only given them even odds of surviving; the attack that had finished off the third level had obviously taken everything the other Exorcist had left. Daisya was leaning heavily against a wall, one leg crushed badly enough that he wouldn't be putting weight on it again any time soon, and his attempt to smile reassuringly at Kanda was nothing but bravado. There were still Akuma all over the city, and if Kanda left him like this Daisya would be dead the moment one of them found the injured Exorcist.

Cursing, Kanda deactivated the second illusion and slammed Mugen home into its sheath, heading for the other man. "Marie! What's your location?" he snapped at the golem that was still faithfully trailing after him.

"Not far from where Daisya said he last was," Marie replied promptly. "I heard something, like an Akuma but more powerful than I've ever heard before..."

"It's taken care of," Kanda said. He reached Daisya's side and slung the other man's arm over his shoulder, giving him a crutch to lean against as they hopped along. "We're heading for Tiedoll's position now, meet up with us on the way."

Marie grunted his assent, and Daisya gave him a weak grin. "Don't worry, Kanda. We chased him off, and he can't have had more than one of those things around."

"Let's hope," Kanda said, but his attention was focused on the direction Lavi had vanished in. "Either way, he's not going to get away with this. I'll make him pay if it's the last thing I ever do."

Daisya looked at him and shivered, his grin faltering. "I could almost feel sorry for the bugger," he muttered, sounding a bit uneasy. "I sure as hell wouldn't wanna have you after _me_ with that look in your eyes."

Kanda's answer was a snarl, and a silent vow that he wouldn't let himself rest until he'd made up for the shame brought on him by Lavi's treachery. One way or another, he would make certain the traitor learned the price of betraying Kanda's trust.


	9. Chapter 9

"Ow." Lavi winced and tried not to jerk his arm out of Lulubell's grip. Not that he probably could have budged it; the other Noah was stronger than she looked. "Be careful, will you? I need that hand."

"Then you should not have allowed the Exorcist to hit you so much," she said, as haughty and aloof as the cat she sometimes was. The bell around her throat tinkled softly as she leaned forward, cleaning another of the long gashes on his arm. "Don't be such a baby. Hold still."

"It's not like I just stood there and let him cut me up, y'know," Lavi said, rolling his eyes. "He - ow! - he's too damned fast, and unlike the rest of you I don't have any offensive abilities. The best I can do is throw Akuma at him, and when I run out of those..." He made big, pathetic eyes at her, doing his best to look helpless and fragile. Considering he outweighed her by a fair bit and probably could have snapped her in half, it was difficult, but he gave it his best shot. Lulu was _hot_ , right up his alley.

"Stop baiting him, then," she said, rather heartlessly in Lavi's opinion. As usual, she was either oblivious to his attempts to flirt or was choosing to utterly ignore them. He still wasn't sure which was the case. Ordinarily he was good at reading people, but she just didn't react like a normal human - or even a normal Noah. He was starting to believe she really was a cat that took on human form sometimes, and not the other way around.

"If you're not careful, Skin is going to be after your hide as well as that Exorcist," a deep, smooth voice interrupted. Lavi jumped as Tyki appeared abruptly beside them, with a smug little smile that said he'd seen Lavi's involuntary reaction. Tyki delighted in sneaking up on Lavi at every opportunity, and his ability to walk through solid objects allowed him to get away with it far too often for Lavi's peace of mind.

"Could you not do that, please?" Lavi said plaintively, looking up at the other man. "It freaks me out when you just show up outta nowhere like that." Not for the first time he desperately wished he was able to track the other Noah with his powers the same way he'd been able to do with the Exorcists.

"You're getting spoiled, always knowing what's going to happen next," Tyki mocked him, settling into another chair and watching with lazy interest as Lulu continued to clean the wounds. "Someone has to keep you on your toes. Though it appears that Exorcist is doing a decent job of it. Tsk, tsk. Getting careless, are we?"

"Yeah, I'd like to see _you_ take him on," Lavi muttered, scowling. This was just rubbing salt in the wound, damn it. "Or rather, I'd like to see you take him on without being able to use your power. Just being able to see it coming isn't always enough to help me avoid it. Yuu's really strong!"

"There," Lulu said, and picked up the tray of glass shards and gravel fragments she'd collected from Lavi's wounds. "You're all done. Now you can stop whining at me and go be useful somewhere. Aren't you supposed to be tracking down one of the generals?"

"Yes, and _not_ Tiedoll," Tyki put in. "As I said, Skin is getting rather irritated with you horning in on his territory. He won't be appeased with candy forever, you know."

"Yeah, but I'm not after Tiedoll," Lavi explained with exaggerated patience. He examined the long cuts and ragged scrapes that covered his arms. Now clean, they were already healing much faster than a normal human's wounds would, though far slower than usual for a Noah because most of them had been caused by Innocence. "The general can go hang for all of me. And I _am_ tracking Socalo, I'm just waiting to get him in a position where he can't call for help and I can get enough high-level Akuma in the area to have a hope of taking him down. In the meantime, I'm having fun playing with Yuu, is all."

"Oh yes, it looks like a great deal of fun," Tyki said dryly, eyeing Lavi's wounds significantly. "It certainly sounded that way, when you were whining at Lulu just now."

"So I was a bit too slow this time," Lavi shrugged and leaned back in his chair, resting his feet on the table despite the lecture he knew he'd get if the Earl caught him at it. The Earl hadn't been around for days, involved with Road doing something with the Ark. "It wouldn't be half as much fun if it wasn't a challenge. Besides, it's all worth it for the frustrated look on his pretty face, every time I get away."

He smirked, and Tyki gave him a shark's grin in return. The tendency to 'play with their food', as the Earl put it, was something the two of them had in common. In fact, it had developed into a rather not-so-friendly rivalry, as Lavi continued to steal targets right out from under Tyki's nose. First Daisya in Barcelona, then Gwen, Tina and Sol from Klaud Nine's group later, plus at least a dozen finders in the last month.

Of course, Lavi's toys tended to end up merely damaged instead of dead like Tyki's, but as he kept reminding his new family, that was hardly his fault. He just didn't have the kind of offensive abilities shared by most of his Noah kin. And 'broken' at least got the Exorcists out of the Earl's way for a while, even if it wasn't as good as 'dead'.

"Ah, well. That's a shame," Tyki said, a bit cryptically. "Perhaps you won't like your present very much after all, then. Maybe I should throw it away and find you another?"

"Present?" Lavi perked up, though a bit warily. The rest of the Noah had welcomed him into the fold in their own ways, and even he and Tyki got along well enough when they weren't competing for toys, but he'd learned that presents from his new family were always to be highly suspected. Some of them had rather odd senses of humour. "What for? It's not my birthday, and anyway you don't even know when it is."

"Do I need an excuse to get a present for my newest 'little brother'?" Tyki said, affecting a hurt expression. "Jasdebi even helped me get it for you. It wasn't at all easy, I'll have you know. But if you don't want it..."

"I don't even know what it is," Lavi reminded him, rolling his eyes. "How should I know if I want it or not? Gimme a break, Tyki. Where is it?"

Tyki chuckled and stood, gesturing for Lavi to follow. The asshole walked right through the wall, of course, forcing Lavi to detour around through the door and the hallway into the next room.

The smell of blood hit him the moment he opened the door, and Lavi's nose wrinkled in protest. For a moment all he could see was what looked like a lump of dark, bloody cloth in the middle of the floor of an otherwise empty room. "What on..."

A low groan reached his ears as Tyki nudged the lump with a toe, and Lavi realized it was a human. An Exorcist, in fact, unmistakeable now that he knew to look for the white accents at shoulders and cuffs. And that long, matted dark hair could only belong to one person.

"Yuu!" Lavi's first reaction was one of unmodulated horror, but he turned it quickly to anger as he rounded on Tyki. "Are you out of your _mind_? Bringing an Exorcist _here_? What if he gets loose? You might think you've got him cowed, but you have no idea how fast he heals or how powerful he is!"

Sweat had sprung up on his face, and he could feel it prickling over his back as well. This was bad, very bad, _beyond_ bad. He hadn't seen it coming at all, and it was going to send all his careful calculations merrily to hell. Damn Tyki and his arrogant pride, so hurt that Lavi had stolen some of his thunder. This was meant to taunt him for his ineffectiveness at killing anyone, he was sure of it.

"So you don't want him after all?" Tyki asked, the very image of wounded innocence.

"I didn't say that," Lavi said, scowling as he moved forward. "But I like my toys in one piece when I start playing with them, thank you just the same. Not to mention I prefer not to have the Earl coming down on my head for letting an Exorcist get a look around the Ark. Don't underestimate this one, Tyki. He may not be as powerful as a general, but he's no slouch. Right, Yuu?"

He was somewhat relieved to hear a growl in response, and to see the gleam of Kanda's eyes glaring up at him through the tangle of hair. Kanda was bound securely with long strands of rusted metal wire that cut into his hands and arms, an ugly parallel to the wounds he'd so recently given Lavi. He was also gagged with what looked like strips of his own sword belt, which was probably just as well or Lavi wouldn't have been able to talk to Tyki over the sound of the Exorcist's cursing.

If Tyki killed Kanda now - or worse, forced Lavi to kill him - everything was going to fall apart. He _needed_ Kanda alive for a good long while yet if any of his plans were going to have a hope in hell of succeeding. Crouching next to the Exorcist, remaining carefully just out of range of flailing feet, Lavi looked the other man over. The blood seemed to be mostly from the cuts from the wire, but he was bruised all over. The twins' doing, no doubt, since Tyki preferred to leave no marks on his victims in order to confuse people.

Which sent a chill running down Lavi's spine as another thought occurred to him. "Did you hurt him beyond what I can see?" he demanded, looking up at Tyki. "Where's his Innocence? You didn't destroy it already, did you?" He gave the other Noah an angry pout. "He's no fun if he's helpless and dying."

"He's not dying, I didn't use Tease on him," Tyki assured him loftily. "Honestly, would I give you a broken toy for a present? Jasdebi might have been a bit rough, but he already looks much better than he did earlier. And I have his Innocence right here." He lifted a hand to display the delicate, green-glowing cube in one hand.

"Well? Give it here," Lavi said, standing and holding out his hand. "If he's my present, the Innocence is mine too, isn't it?"

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay and help?" Tyki asked, a dangerous gleam in his eyes that Lavi had learned never boded well. "You've had so much difficulty dealing with him until now. Besides, it's about time you had some servants of your own, instead of just using the general Akuma all the time. I'll show you how to turn him, if you're not sure."

Lavi's eyes narrowed, and he met Tyki stare for stare. Belatedly it occurred to him that there might be more behind this 'gift' than simple taunting. "Are you testing my loyalty?" he asked, his own voice low and soft, just as dangerous as the glint in Tyki's eyes.

"Let's just say, some of us are a little concerned that you might not be quite resigned to your fate," Tyki baited him, his shark-like smile widening. "I'm sure it's all just a misunderstanding. Kill him, or turn him, and we'll know you're really one of us. I'd hate for a silly thing like your lack of offensive abilities to lead to the rest of us thinking you might be a spy if you're not."

An outraged growl from Kanda told them what the Exorcist thought of the idea that Lavi might be working for the Order. Considering the lengths the man had gone to over the last month in an effort to kill Lavi, the anger was probably understandable. They'd tangled several times since Barcelona, and this wasn't the first time Kanda had injured Lavi, nor the worst Lavi had been hurt by him.

"All right, all right," Lavi conceded, giving in with ill grace. "I'll make a servant out of him, if you're that picky about it. Geez. Gimme his Innocence, though. I wanna taunt him for a bit first, at least."

"Oh, I think I'll just hold on to this," Tyki said airily, leaning back against the wall and crossing his arms, the Innocence still held securely in one gloved hand. "And I'd like to watch. It's always so much fun, the first time you turn someone, and usually the Earl takes Road along to oversee a new awakening. I never get a chance to see."

Lavi scowled at him, but Tyki clearly wasn't planning to budge. Automatically Lavi reached out to see what was coming in the near future, but as always his powers refused to show him anything about the other Noah. Tyki's own power protected him from Lavi's.

 _Are you Bookman-trained, or not?_ he asked himself, irritated. Just because he couldn't see Tyki's actions in the future didn't mean he had no way of predicting what the other man was up to. Studying Tyki's body language and the nuances of his smug expression, Lavi's heart sank. The other Noah wasn't going to budge. If Lavi insisted, he'd stop being polite and flat out order Lavi to kill Kanda, but nothing Lavi said or did was going to get Tyki to leave the room before Kanda was dead.

All right... he couldn't predict Tyki's reactions, but what about Kanda's? Lavi reviewed his options, and what he could see of the future leading from each one. Surely there was something he could do that would make this work out at least marginally in his favour. Not that... no, _definitely_ not that idea... no... no...

 _Yes!_

Lavi made a split-second decision that would throw every one of his plans into chaos, and leave him floundering in the aftermath. Unfortunately, Tyki had backed him neatly into a corner and he didn't have a lot of choice.

"Huh. Didn't know you were such a voyeur, Tyki. Guess I should've expected it, though, you being Noah's Pleasure and all." Lavi smirked back at Tyki, and shrugged. "Do what you like over in your corner there, but hands off. This one's mine, and I've been waiting way too long to get him helpless to wanna share now."

He grabbed the front of Kanda's jacket and hauled the Exorcist partially upright, leaning him against the wall so he was more or less sitting up. The position had to be putting Kanda's arms in agony, wrenched behind his back as they were, but the kneeling posture also meant he couldn't easily kick out at Lavi.

Knowing Kanda was going to make sure his death was long and painful in retaliation for this if the Exorcist ever _did_ manage to catch him, Lavi leaned in close with a heated smile. "He's not as hot as Lulu or Lenalee, but I've always thought he was one of the prettiest members of the Order. Been dying to do this for ages."

Tugging the gag out of the way, he leaned in and kissed Kanda savagely before the other man could get more than the first syllable of a curse out. Kanda promptly tried to bite him, but Lavi would have seen that coming even if he hadn't been prescient. One hand trailed over the front of the heavy Exorcist jacket, flicking open one oversized button after another. Kanda wasn't wearing a shirt beneath, just a swath of bandages across his chest to cover the partially healed wound he'd taken from an Akuma in his earlier fight with Lavi.

Kanda writhed beneath him, and the sharp coppery tang of blood in the air increased as he struggled against the wire binding his arms. Furious growls punctuated his efforts, and it was all Lavi could do to keep the other man from squirming right out of his grip. In his head Noah's voice made an angry counterpoint, a hissing litany of _'Kill, Exorcist, kill, destroy!'_

"Oh? My, my. I hadn't thought you were the type," Tyki commented, a thread of lascivious laughter running through his voice. "Is _that_ why you've been toying with him instead of killing him? Well, Akuma certainly aren't terribly interesting to bed, even the second levels in human form."

Kanda's attention was transferred to Tyki, his muffled threats now clearly aimed at the Noah holding his Innocence hostage. Seeing that Kanda's eyes were fixed on what remained of Mugen, Lavi slipped his other hand behind Kanda's back. Carefully hiding his actions from Tyki's view, he found the place where the wire had been twisted together to form a knot, and untwisted it.

It took Kanda a moment to register that his hands were suddenly free, but Lavi saw the instant realization dawned. To give the man credit, he didn't waste precious time going after Lavi even though the redhead had been the object of his obsessive hunt for so long. He shoved Lavi aside and lunged for Tyki, his first intention obviously to retrieve his Innocence.

Startled, Tyki didn't quite manage to dodge in time. Kanda tackled him and they both went down in a heap, limbs flailing as Kanda struggled to snatch his precious Innocence away from the Noah before Tyki could destroy it.

Since that was exactly what Lavi had foreseen Kanda would do under those circumstances, he rolled easily with the shove and was back on his feet before Tyki had a chance to react to the unexpected assault. In mere seconds the other Noah would get hold of himself and start using his powers, and Kanda would be dead a heartbeat later as Tyki ripped out whichever internal organ was most handy. But Kanda had bought Lavi those necessary seconds, and he didn't intend to waste them.

With a precision of form that would have made a martial artist proud, Lavi drew back one foot and kicked Tyki in the temple as hard as he could. Nothing among the creations of earth could hurt Tyki Mikk - but a Noah's body, like a piece of Innocence, was outside of the realm of things Tyki could affect with his powers. Lavi's foot connected solidly, and knocked Tyki out cold.

Quickly Lavi snatched up the Innocence and backed out of Kanda's reach, holding the prize up so the other man could clearly see it. "Ah, ah, Yuu. Stop right there, and don't move. You don't want to make me nervous while I'm holding this, do you?"

Kanda froze, glaring at him furiously. "What the hell are you playing at _now_ , traitor?" he hissed.

"Tyki's put a bit of a crimp in my plans, but I think I can still salvage some of them," Lavi said, his mind running rapidly over his options. God, but he wished he could predict the actions of the Noah! It would make things _so_ much easier if he knew whether or not he could convince Tyki and the others that Kanda was the one who had somehow knocked Tyki out.

No, he couldn't risk it. He was fairly certain that Tyki had seen Lavi in the moment before Lavi struck him. Sighing, Lavi rubbed the bridge of his nose and tried to stave off a headache. "If you want to live, Yuu, do exactly as I tell you. Not a word of argument, understand?"

"Why should I trust anything you tell me?" Kanda said, his glare not letting up an inch.

"You shouldn't, obviously, but you're gonna have to," Lavi told him bluntly. "It's that or die here, it's up to you. Don't. Move," he added as a glimpsed a flickering vision of Kanda trying to tackle him the same way he'd done to Tyki. "If you make me twitchy, Yuu, I might destroy Mugen by accident. I'm not very good at controlling that part of my powers, yet."

That at least served to make Kanda subside again, though the other man growled and watched him like a hawk. Looking at Tyki's unconscious body, Lavi wished he dared allow Kanda to kill the Noah. Then he could convince the others that Kanda had escaped, without having to worry that Tyki would testify to Lavi's involvement. But that would mean giving back Kanda's Innocence, and Lavi was far too aware that the moment Mugen was back in Kanda's hands, Lavi would be as good as dead himself.

Finally Lavi removed his own long leather jacket, a gift from the Earl when Lavi had shed his Exorcist uniform on his first trip to the Ark. He shoved Tyki into a corner and draped the jacket over the man's still body to hide it from casual observation. It would have been nice if he could have bound Tyki with the same wire that had been used on Kanda, but Tyki would just phase right through it the moment he was awake again.

"Stay here, and for God's sake don't draw any attention," he ordered Kanda. "The only people who will hear you in here are Akuma and the other Noah. I'll be right back."

He flashed the Innocence again just so Kanda would be certain Lavi was taking it with him, then ducked out the door. There were always Akuma hanging around the Ark, just in case one of the Noah needed them. As it happened, the first one Lavi encountered was a third level, which made him a little nervous, but it couldn't be helped. Hopefully it wouldn't pay enough attention to the room to notice Tyki's badly hidden body.

"Hey, you," he called, summoning it with an imperious gesture. "Tyki brought me a present, but it's proving a bit difficult to handle," he said with a wry smile. "I need a little help."

"The Exorcist?" the Akuma asked, making Lavi wince. Did _everyone_ on the Ark know about Tyki's plot? Well, if so, it didn't really make a difference to Lavi's hasty plan.

"Yeah. He got loose from the wire, but I've got his Innocence," he said, showing the Akuma the cube. The monster winced away from the bright green light, an instinctive reaction since it certainly couldn't be harmed by it in this form. "I need some help moving him. I'm going to bring him to my room for a little fun."

He let a bloodthirsty smile spread over his face, not unlike Tyki's own shark grin, inviting the Akuma to share in his glee. It smiled back at him, a distinctly chilling sight to someone not used to dealing with Akuma. "Of course, Noah-sama," it agreed.

Leading it back to the room, Lavi reflected that Kanda really was going to torture him slowly and painfully for all this. Shoving open the door, he let the Akuma precede him into the room.

Kanda's eyes went wide when he saw the monster, and the Exorcist scrambled to his feet despite Lavi's earlier admonition to him not to move. Lavi couldn't really blame him. "Knock him out," Lavi ordered the Akuma, ignoring Kanda's cry of angry protest. " _Carefully_ , mind you. I want him alive when he gets to my room."

"You two-faced, traitorous turn-coat," Kanda snarled, backing rapidly away from the Akuma and searching for some way to fight it despite his lack of Innocence. "When I get my hands on you..."

"You'll have to get your hands on me first, Yuu," Lavi told him wearily, and watched as the Akuma neatly struck the Exorcist on the back of the head. Kanda dropped like a sack of rocks, out cold, and Lavi was reasonably certain he would wake again with nothing worse than a headache.

As he gestured for the Akuma to pick Kanda up and follow him out the door, Lavi added silently to himself, _At least you'll be alive to try._


	10. Chapter 10

For the second time in as many months, Kanda found himself waking up when he'd never expected to open his eyes again.

He lay blinking up at the ceiling for a few befuddled moments, trying to make sense of the fact that he was still alive. The last thing he remembered was being in the Ark, with Tyki and that traitorous bastard. Then he'd been stupid and gullible enough to fall for the traitor's tricks _again_ , and the Akuma had come and knocked him out.

Warily Kanda glanced around, half expecting to find the bastard had allowed him to live in order to draw out the torture. To his utter confusion what he saw were the familiar walls and equipment of the infirmary of the Order.

A small sound of shock escaped him, and a moment later the curtain was pulled aside to reveal Komui. "Ah, you're awake," the older man said, looking pleased and relieved. "Bookman said you should be coming around about now. You gave us quite a scare - some of your injuries were healing as slowly as they would on anyone else. I was afraid you'd reached your limit at last."

"Noah inflicted," Kanda grunted, hoping that would be enough of an explanation. He really didn't want to go into the humiliating details of his defeat by Tyki and the two unknown Noah. He _definitely_ was not going to talk about what had occurred after Tyki had delivered him to the traitor, no matter how much Komui pestered him.

"I suspected something of the sort," Komui agreed, in one of his rare serious moods. That alone told Kanda just how close he'd really come to dying.

Which reminded him of another question. "How did I get back here?" Had he somehow won free and stumbled back to the Order, in such a daze that he didn't even remember it?

Komui gave him a very odd smile that immediately put Kanda on his guard. "That's why I suspected Noah involvement. Lavi brought you back."

The sound reached Kanda's ears, and he saw Komui's lips moving, but the meaning simply refused to register in his brain. "I'm hallucinating," he finally said, the words coming out very slow and precise. "I could have sworn you just said that Lavi brought me back."

"Walked right up to the front door, brazen as you please," Komui agreed, regaining some of his usual cheer. "He set you down, waved at the cameras, waited long enough to hear the alarms going off and then made himself scarce. He was incredibly lucky there were no Exorcists in residence... but then, luck probably had little to do with it, if I understand the nature of his powers correctly."

Kanda struggled to make that fit into his current worldview, and failed utterly. More memories returned to him of things he hadn't paid attention to at the time, too focused on his need to escape.

Lavi had freed his arms, giving him the opportunity to act. Then there was the polite sniping from Tyki, who had all but accused Lavi of being a spy for the Order. Even Lavi's casual attempts to get Kanda's Innocence away from the other Noah seemed...

Sudden panic made Kanda bolt upright in the bed, uncaring of the renewed pain from his not-quite-healed injuries. "Mugen!"

Solemnly Komui held out his hand, revealing the Innocence nestled in his palm. It was an activated piece, glowing bright green, delicate and beautiful. "He left it beside you," Komui said.

Trying to conceal the way he was trembling, Kanda reached out and touched it. The moment his fingers brushed the cube, a sharp ripple of energy surged through the room. The green glow intensified rapidly, until Kanda was forced to close his eyes.

At last it subsided, and a familiar weight settled into his palm. He curled his fingers around the hilt and a curiously warm tendril of energy seemed to brush against him, as if welcoming his presence in a tactile way. With a deep sigh of relief, Kanda opened his eyes to see the infinitely reassuring sight of Mugen in his hand.

"Thank God," Kanda murmured to himself, drawing it close and cradling the blade in his lap. The worst moment of his entire life had been when Tyki had picked Mugen up and reverted it to its element form. Kanda had been horribly certain he would never see it again.

"Take it easy for a little while," Komui said. "You can go chasing after him again when you're fully healed. Don't glare at me," he added mildly. "I'm not confining you to quarters, just making a suggestion. I'd say you need the time to think as much as the time to heal."

Before Kanda could react to that astonishing statement, Komui turned and left, leaving him alone in the infirmary.

Despite his irritation at Komui's presumption, Kanda found he _did_ have a lot to think about. The problem was, most of his thoughts were in the form of questions, and there was nobody to give him any answers. He might drive himself crazy that way, but he couldn't seem to stop himself.

Why had Lavi untied him? Why had he brought Kanda back to the Order, and even returned his Innocence unharmed? Why bother knocking Kanda out at all, if Lavi wasn't planning to betray him? Why turn on Tyki? Why had Tyki accused Lavi of being a spy?

What the _hell_ was going on, and when had Kanda's world turned upside down?

Tired of giving himself a headache, Kanda rose from the bed and headed for his room. He hoped to at least take solace from the familiar surroundings.

Someone had cleaned and repaired his uniform, and draped it over his bed. Despite the careful attempt at mending, his jacket was looking rather ragged and battered. It was probably about time for him to see about replacing it, but he just couldn't be bothered right now.

Sighing, he placed Mugen on its rack and picked up the jacket, intending to hang it up. Something crackled in one of the pockets, drawing his attention. He fished inside the pocket and discovered a torn bit of paper, carefully folded and tucked out of sight.

Opening it, he found what seemed to be a random string of numbers. Kanda frowned at it for a moment, confused, before he shrugged and crumpled it up. Probably it was just measurements or something from the tailors who'd repaired the jacket, but either way it didn't belong to him. He tossed it into the small metal bin by his rarely used desk, and made a mental note to remember to put it out for collection in the morning. At the moment, he had bigger things to worry about.

* * *

The next morning Kanda was a little better physically, though still stiff. The cuts from the wire and the knock on the head from the Akuma were gone, of course, but as Komui had said the bruises from the beating were taking much longer to heal. His mental state, however, was another story. The lingering pain made Kanda irritable, as did his rather intense headache. He'd hardly slept a wink the night before, his mind spinning in little circles going over and over all the questions raised by his latest encounter with Lavi.

It just didn't fit the pattern of all their other encounters since Lavi had first tricked him over Tiedoll. Outwardly Lavi had been just as condescending and arrogant as always, but... something had been different, even in the beginning. There had been a faint edge of panic in his eyes, and it had showed briefly in his voice when he'd first realized Kanda's identity.

Kanda had to question why Lavi hadn't seen all of it coming. He'd certainly had no trouble predicting any other time he would encounter Kanda. Was it because of Tyki's involvement, or just because Lavi hadn't been looking for it? Kanda knew the traitor's powers weren't infallible; their fight earlier that same day had been a good example of that, as Kanda had managed to score several fairly serious hits on the Noah. Yet another question to put on his rapidly growing list.

Groaning, Kanda resisted the urge to bash his head against the tabletop until he either shook loose some answers or rattled his skull enough to make him stop thinking about it. That would be childish and draw attention, and that was the last thing he wanted.

Besides, he didn't think it would work.

Once he was finished his breakfast, Kanda headed for the now-empty room that had so briefly been Lavi's quarters. Kanda had spent quite a bit of time there over the last month, poring over the map and notes Lavi had left behind. So far the only times Kanda had been able to confront the asshole was when he correctly predicted which of the potential Innocence locations Lavi would strike next. If not for the traitor's own work Kanda would never have been able to find him again, something Kanda had found ironically appropriate.

For the first time it occurred to Kanda to wonder _why_ Lavi had spent the whole night translating his notes, when the traitor had been planning to betray them the next day. Had he just been taunting them? Or had he lost the struggle against Noah later that night, and that was why he hadn't quite finished the work?

Growling, Kanda added that to the list as well, and forced himself to concentrate on the matter at hand.

He sat at the desk, in nearly the same position Lavi had been in the last time Kanda had seen him in this room. Rubbing his aching eyes, Kanda spread the notes out beside the map and tried to find the place where he'd left off. The bastard appeared to be working his way more or less methodically across Europe, following much the same path he'd been tracing with his visions on the map. The hard part was painstakingly working out which characters on the map corresponded to what in the translations, so that he knew what was worth investigating and what was just Lavi's notes on the positions of the various Exorcists in the field.

The moment he looked at the notes, something tugged at Kanda's subconscious. He frowned and scanned the lines of tiny characters that were beginning to haunt his dreams, trying to figure out what was bothering him. He'd been shocked to discover that Lavi had very neat and precise handwriting. Kanda had always assumed that Lavi was the type of person whose writing would be an illegible scrawl, but in fact it was better than Kanda's own. However he'd long ago accepted that odd dichotomy.

It was something else that was bugging him today. Something familiar. He'd seen Lavi's handwriting recently. On the Ark? That would seem logical on the face of it, but when had he had an opportunity to see anything but the walls of the room Tyki had dumped him in?

It continued to bother him as he worked, meticulously comparing the characters on the map to the corresponding places in the notes, trying to find the most likely place for Lavi to show up next. If he could just beat the traitor to the spot, this time Kanda would pin him to the ground with Mugen and _make_ the bastard answer all his questions. Maybe then the headache would finally leave him alone, and he'd be able to feel like the world wasn't turning backwards anymore.

Realization struck almost half an hour later, as he was translating a set of numbers. Co-ordinates! The 'meaningless' string of numbers on the paper in his pocket had been geographic co-ordinates, and _that_ was where he'd seen Lavi's handwriting recently!

Cursing, Kanda shot to his feet and bolted into the hall, headed for his room at a dead run. Had he remembered to put the bin outside his door this morning? He wasn't sure. How often did workers come to collect the garbage? If it had already gone, would he have any hope of finding it again amidst the unbelievable piles of paper waste generated by the Order's researchers?

He skidded on the slick floor and nearly slammed into the wall, trying to take the corner into his hall too quickly. Vaguely he was aware of someone saying something in a concerned tone, probably asking if he was all right, but Kanda ignored them. There was no metal bin outside his door. Did that mean that he hadn't put it out, or that it was already gone?

God seemed to be smiling on him for _once_ \- when he fumbled the door open, he saw the metal bin sitting innocently next to his desk, still where he'd forgotten it that morning. He nearly knocked it over in his haste to get to it, and he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw the bit of paper resting at the bottom.

Fishing it out, he unfolded it again and confirmed that it was indeed a set of co-ordinates. The location was somewhere in southern Europe, if he wasn't mistaken. And it was unmistakeably Lavi's handwriting, now that he knew what he was looking at.

All his other questions abruptly took a backseat to two new ones. Why had Lavi left him a set of co-ordinates?

And what the hell was he going to do about it?

* * *

Two days later Kanda was still cursing himself for a fool. Hadn't he learned his lesson about trusting Lavi _yet_?

It would serve him right if he was walking straight into a trap. The Order would never know what had happened to him, because Kanda hadn't told anyone about Lavi's cryptic message. He hadn't wanted to sit through the lectures he'd inevitably have received about how stupid he was being. Kanda hated pointless arguments - especially when he knew in his heart the other person was right.

The co-ordinates had turned out to be not far from Barcelona. The proximity made Kanda feel paranoid, but he wasn't sure just what the significance might be. Unfortunately, there was only one way to find out.

There wasn't much of anything in the way of landmarks to place his current location in relation to a map. Even if Kanda had known how to navigate by the stars, it was the middle of the day. The heavy grey cloud cover prevented him from seeing the location of the sun, so he couldn't be even be certain what _direction_ he was facing. He was certain he was in the right general area, but he didn't know what he was actually looking for. How the hell was he supposed to find it?

In the end he literally tripped over it - or rather, over his first real clue. It was a weathered chunk of carved rock, the pictures made vague by time and the elements. Looking around, Kanda found other similar stones scattered about, mostly hidden by the ground cover.

Half an hour later he'd found the remnants of a wall and traced it back to a flatter area, with some rotting floorboards still visible beneath the wild greenery that had overgrown the whole area. This was definitely the ruin of a building, though he had no idea what it might originally have been for or even who might have built it. At least he found a place where the ground seemed to dip suspiciously, as if it had sunk into an improperly filled hole.

Kanda swore, thinking he was going to have to rip up the vegetation with nothing but his bare hands and Mugen to help. To his shock, however, when he grabbed a handful of plant matter and heaved, an entire section of the ground came away easily.

Now, looking at the underside of it, he could see that the greenery had been carefully plaited into a woven mat of twigs, giving it just enough support to look solid. Revealed beneath it was a set of crumbling stone steps descending into the earth, ending in a carved metal door.

If Kanda had still been harbouring any doubts that he'd found the right place, they'd have been dispelled the moment he saw the door. Unlike the rocks, the carvings on the door were as pristine as the day they were made. The central image was clearly a stylized piece of Innocence - and there was a faint green glow around the edges of the door, the exact shade of activated Innocence.

Realizing he was standing there gaping like an idiot, Kanda hastily dropped the mat and looked around. There was no sound of animals and hadn't been the whole day, which made him nervous. He couldn't shake the feeling that half a dozen Akuma just _had_ to be lurking somewhere nearby, waiting for an opportunity to catch him off guard.

If there were, they hadn't shown any signs of themselves yet, no matter how hard he strained to see a hint of movement. Of course, if he walked down those stairs to investigate the door he'd be handing them a prime opportunity to strike his unguarded back, but Kanda didn't see any way around it. He either had to go down there, or turn around and go back to the Order.

Giving up had never been in his nature, so Kanda stalked down the stairs and tried not to feel like he had a giant target painted on his back. Nothing immediately rushed out at him, so he turned most of his attention to the door.

There was no handle or knob, no keyhole, no hinges; no obvious way of opening it at all. Kanda ran his hands over the entire surface, prying carefully at the edges where the green glow was strongest, but nothing happened. He tried twisting and pushing at every protruding bit of carving, but that didn't work either. In irritation he pounded at the carving of the Innocence, but he hadn't expected that to accomplish anything more than relieving his frustration a bit.

Stymied, he glared at the door. Surely there had to be _some_ way to open it. Obviously it had been built specifically to house Innocence, maybe even by the lost race of ancients who had created the Innocence in the first place. The thought made his heart pound. Was it possible - could this be the resting place of the Heart?

It wouldn't matter if it was or not if Kanda couldn't get _inside_. Finally, in sheer desperation, he drew Mugen and activated it. If the Hell's Insects could blast through the toughened exteriors of Akuma, maybe they could tear through this damned stubborn door.

"Kaichuu..." he started to summon the Insects, but to his surprise there was a puff of air from the door and the green glow intensified. Slowly the heavy door swung open, revealing that it was more than a foot thick. There was a dark space behind it, lit only by more of that same eerie green light. Kanda could just make out the Innocence arranged so carefully on the pedestal inside.

Not just a single piece of Innocence... there were at least ten, maybe more. Kanda's eyes went wide and his breath escaped him in a rush. He'd _never_ heard of so much Innocence being discovered in one place before. Was this some kind of cache the ancients had hidden away, never discovered until this moment?

Sheathing Mugen, Kanda slowly stepped forward, a little awed. He knew the generals carried as much with them, but he'd never actually seen so much in one place before. This would replace everything Tiedoll had lost to Lavi and then some...

 _Lavi_. Cursing himself, Kanda spun and checked over his shoulder. In his shock he'd momentarily forgotten just what had brought him here. There was still no sign of the traitor, but he had to be out there _somewhere_. If Innocence was required to open this cache, then Lavi must have been bitterly regretting the loss of his hammer. Kanda assumed he had destroyed it, since the bastard clearly hadn't Fallen.

So why wouldn't he take the opportunity to trick Kanda one more time, into opening the door for him? Surely, _surely_ , any moment now a horde of level three Akuma would come rushing out at him, overwhelming him so Lavi could claim the Innocence for the Noah - and probably destroy the Heart in the process.

Long seconds ticked by, turning into even longer minutes, and still nothing happened. Kanda's shoulders were so tense he was amazed he couldn't hear the bones creaking, and his heart was pounding in his chest. He couldn't keep up that level of awareness forever, but he also couldn't shake the certainty that Lavi was just waiting for him to let his guard down.

Finally he had to admit defeat. Reluctantly he turned away, the spot between his shoulder blades itching terribly, but he wasn't attacked. He entered the tiny room and considered swinging the door closed behind him, but two things stopped him. One, he had no light and the dim glow in the room wasn't enough on its own. Two, he had no idea if the door _could_ be opened again from the inside, and didn't want to find out the hard way that it couldn't.

The first thing that struck him when he really studied the Innocence was that not all of them were the same. The one on the very top of the little stack was in fact the source of a large part of the green glow, and Kanda's heart sank as he realized it was an _activated_ piece.

An activated piece meant a new Exorcist, which was normally an occasion for celebration, but Kanda was no general. He had _no idea_ how to go about finding the person the Innocence had activated for, much less how to train them until he could get them to the Order. He swallowed hard and gingerly lifted that piece, examining it carefully. If he'd hoped to find the Accommodator's name written somewhere on the cube he was unfortunately disappointed.

Well, unless he happened to stumble across the Accommodator completely by accident, the only thing he could think to do was to take the Innocence back to headquarters and give it to someone who _would_ know what to do with it. Tiedoll, for example, since he would presumably be delivering all the rest of this Innocence to the general as well.

There were twelve pieces in all, an unprecedented find for the Order. Kanda could feel himself sweating hard with uncharacteristic nerves as he gathered it all into a sack he fashioned from his shirt. Carrying this much Innocence would make him a walking beacon to every Akuma in a hundred mile radius, at minimum. And that was assuming that Lavi wasn't out there somewhere just waiting to make his move.

Before leaving Kanda unsheathed Mugen, figuring it was better to be prepared. With one hand tight on Mugen's hilt and the other locked in the folds of his makeshift sack, he peered out the door. Nothing moved in his line of sight, so he reluctantly stepped forward.

The moment he cleared the doorway, a high-pitched whine sounded above and behind him. Cursing, Kanda threw himself to the side, but he wasn't quite fast enough to avoid being hit. The Akuma virus tore through his system, making his legs buckle and threatening to make him drop Mugen, but he clung to the Innocence with every bit of his strength. No matter what, he would _not_ lose this precious burden to the Noah.

He looked up and found himself staring straight into the barrel of the canon of a level two Akuma. It was giggling at him as it charged its guns again, and he could see at least another half dozen beyond it. Under ordinary circumstances he wouldn't have been worried, but with the virus still in his system from the ambush, Kanda wasn't as certain about his odds of succeeding.

Then his chances of surviving plummeted even further, as a familiar figure walked into view and leaned over the edge of the pit. Merciless golden eyes gazed down at Kanda where he lay half-sprawled over the crumbling steps, and the breeze stirred the black hair so that it alternately hid and uncovered the Crown of Thorns.

"Hey, Yuu," Lavi said softly. "Been waiting for you."


	11. Chapter 11

The look on Kanda's face would have been highly entertaining if the situation hadn't been so serious. Actually it was pretty damned amusing anyway, but Lavi didn't much feel like laughing.

Sighing, he looked down at the furious Exorcist. This might well be the most delicate negotiation he'd ever been involved in - and the vast majority of the futures he could see did _not_ show this ending well.

Since Kanda was apparently too busy fighting off the virus to speak or attack, Lavi turned first to the Akuma that had fired. "What did I tell you to do?" he asked it, his voice deceptively mild.

This was one of the first Akuma he'd picked up as a servant; by now it knew how to tell when it had displeased him. It shrank in on itself, and looked up at him woefully. "Stop the Exorcist from leaving?"

"And?" Lavi prompted, one eyebrow raised.

It sighed, and its shoulders slumped. As much as a mechanical monster could, it looked dejected. "Don't hurt him," it finished miserably. Its guns powered down.

"That's right. If you disobey me again..."

"I won't! I'm sorry, Noah-sama!" it cried, cringing. Lavi was fairly certain that this Akuma was powered by the soul of a child. Most of the ones that had chosen to follow him were the same. Life as an Akuma wasn't easy for those not as vicious and ruthless as others, and Lavi had offered protection to his servants in return for their loyalty.

"Make sure you don't. Now, go stand guard with the others." They didn't really need guards, none of the futures Lavi saw showed them being interrupted. But it gave the Akuma something to do, and anyway it never hurt to be too careful. As this whole mess proved, Lavi was far from infallible.

"Bullshit," Kanda snarled from below, recovered enough to speak. Lavi looked down at him with a questioning expression, and got a hateful glare in response. "You expect me to believe it wasn't following your orders to shoot me?"

Lavi winced as Kanda's words showed which of many possible paths this confrontation was going to take, and cut off some of the possible futures. Including most of the ones that ended with both of them alive at the end.

"I don't 'expect' you to believe much of anything, actually," Lavi said, and some of Kanda's anger changed to surprise. Lavi gave him a mocking grin. The mocking was mostly aimed at himself, but Kanda wouldn't know that. "I tricked you into coming here and opening the door. You know it, and I know it. There's no point in trying to convince you otherwise."

"Then what the fuck do you want?"

The words seemed to indicate a willingness to parley, but Lavi got a flash of the Hell's Insects tearing into him. He ducked and the Insects passed right over his head. Kanda was struggling to his feet below, Mugen's hilt gripped tight in one hand and the makeshift sack that Lavi assumed held the Innocence clutched in the other.

The Insects were coming around again, and Lavi signalled one of his Akuma. It plunged its hands into the ground, and a moment later a hail of mid- to large-sized boulders blasted into the air. It didn't hurt the Insects, of course, but it did slow them down.

"You know, since you refuse to believe my good intentions anyway, I _could_ just have the Akuma keep shooting you every time you start to recover to keep you from moving," Lavi shouted over the noise of the explosions. "Or you could stop reacting and actually listen to me. Your choice."

Kanda glanced to one side, where a couple of the Akuma had come to hover in eager anticipation of the chance to pound on an Exorcist. Technically they were disobeying again, but since they were making his threat more effective Lavi decided not to call them on it.

The Insects had finished chewing through the boulders, but hadn't attacked again. They hovered in the air behind Lavi, a none-too-subtle threat in response to the looming Akuma. With an effort of will Lavi turned his back on them, and grinned at Kanda. "There, now we're even. Feel better?"

He tried not to show how hard he was sweating. There was still a chance that Kanda would attack again without warning, but showing this trust - or disdain, however Kanda chose to interpret it - was the only way Lavi had a chance of getting through to the stubborn bastard.

"Fine," Kanda growled. "I'm listening. So talk." That he had no intention whatsoever of actually _believing_ what he heard was obvious, but Lavi knew it was the best he was going to get.

He hunkered down at the edge of the stairwell. With Kanda standing halfway up the steps, that put them at about eyelevel. "Look, Yuu. Let's make this simple, okay? All I want is Tettsui. Give it to me an' you can walk out of here with the rest, my Akuma won't try to stop or hurt you."

Kanda looked instantly suspicious, and Lavi didn't need his powers to predict what he would say next. Lavi decided not to give him the chance. "No, you paranoid bastard, _I_ won't do anything to act against you either. Gimme Tettsui and you can leave safely with all the other pieces, how's that?"

Kanda said nothing for a moment, clearly examining the offer for traps and finding none. Lavi hadn't promised not to attack him once he'd left the area, but by then Kanda would be fully recovered and they both knew he could easily handle half a dozen second levels.

"What's 'Tettsui'?" Kanda finally asked.

Lavi blinked, and then startled both of them by bursting into laughter. He thought it might be the first genuine, untainted amusement he'd experienced since leaving the Order, and it felt good. "I guess I don't use its proper name very often, huh? My Innocence, Yuu. I want my Innocence back, that's all."

"Your..." Kanda's eyes widened, and he glanced down at the sack still clutched in his hand. Lavi could see the faint green glow of activated Innocence through the thin fabric. Kanda looked up again, staring at him in disbelief. Lavi just smiled back at him. "Why does it not surprise me that you insist on using a stupid nickname for your Innocence, too?"

Laughing again, Lavi shook his head. "Aw, disappointed 'cause you thought you'd found a new Accommodator?" Lavi teased him. The chances of this encounter ending with both of them alive hadn't improved much, but Lavi was surprised to find he was relaxing anyway. Maybe it was the laughter, or maybe it was just the comfortable familiarity of the banter between him and Kanda. The sniping during their recent battles had been similar but not the same. Then, Lavi had been manipulating Kanda. Now he was mostly just having fun. He was shocked how much he'd missed it.

"I'm more worried that you're planning to destroy it," Kanda growled, not seeming to share Lavi's nostalgic amusement.

"What difference would it make to you?" Lavi asked. Not that he intended to destroy it, but he doubted anything he could say would convince Kanda of that. "It's not like anyone else will be able to synch with it, at least not while I'm still alive. What are you gonna do with it, put it on a shelf to look pretty?"

"What if it's the Heart?"

This time the quirk of Lavi's lips was due entirely to the dark humour that seemed so common among Noah's clan, not his earlier light-hearted amusement. "Yuu, if _I_ have the Heart, this world is way too fucked up to survive." He shook his head, his expression wry. "I have my suspicions about the Heart, but it's definitely not mine."

"Why would you want it back if it's not?" Kanda countered stubbornly.

"God give me patience." Lavi pinched the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to calm the headache that was rapidly developing. Between Kanda's mulish anger and Noah's enraged ranting in the back of his head, he was going to end up with a migraine. He took a moment to check the myriad of futures, but there still wasn't an obvious solution leaping out at him.

"Not only do I have _you_ determined to hunt me down and feed my guts to the birds while I watch, I also have the Millennium Earl and all the rest of Noah's clan panting after my blood," Lavi explained slowly and clearly. He opened his eyes and met Kanda's glare. "Unlike the rest of my beloved new siblings, I don't have any kind of innate offensive ability. The dozen or so Akuma that followed me from the Ark aren't gonna last long against that kind of combined firepower. And you can't think of any other reason I might wanna have my Innocence back?"

For the first time, Kanda looked uncertain. "If you don't destroy it, you'll Fall," Kanda insisted, but his voice wasn't as firm as it had been. The harsh buzz of the Hell's Insects faded a bit, and Lavi dared to hope.

"If I do, then that's God's judgement," Lavi replied softly. "Why don't you let Him make it?"

Kanda hesitated, considering it. The Insects flew back to him, and a moment later Mugen was whole in his hand. "Come down here, and I'll think about it," he said. "And tell your Akuma to back off."

Now it was Lavi's turn to hesitate. Kanda obviously intended to get Lavi within striking range. The future showed about even odds on whether he would actually give Lavi a chance, or just kill the Noah the moment he was in range.

But there was no other way. If Lavi was going to survive more than another few days, he needed his Innocence.

"All right, Yuu. I'll come to you." Waving his Akuma back out of sight, Lavi jumped down off the edge of the stairwell. He landed right in front of the door, several steps below Kanda. Lavi hoped that ceding the high ground to Kanda would make the swordsman a little less twitchy about having a Noah so close, and therefore less likely to kill him out of hand.

Although he'd been able to sense the power of the Innocence Kanda held before, from this distance the prickle of power rushing over Lavi's skin was almost painful. In the back of his head Noah's voice, already loud, rose to a scream. _Exorcist. Innocence. Destroy!_ For a moment it drowned out everything else, and it was all Lavi was aware of.

A line of fire like acid etched into his skin across his neck jolted Lavi back to awareness of his surroundings. Noah hadn't gotten any quieter, but it suddenly seemed much more important to pay attention to Mugen's deadly blade pressed against his throat. Lavi swallowed involuntarily, and the burning worsened as he felt a warm trickle of blood drip down his neck.

"Noah are weak to Innocence, aren't you?" Kanda said, his voice quiet but his tone deadly. He leaned in, not putting any more pressure on the blade but closing the distance between them until Lavi could clearly see the fury and betrayal in his eyes. "Just like your damned Akuma. Does it hurt?"

"Burns," Lavi admitted in a whisper, trying to move as little as possible. He wasn't getting any visions to warn of his immediate death, but the look on Kanda's face made him doubt his own powers. Surely the Exorcist was about to run him through.

The rush of power increased, and Lavi flinched. For a moment he thought Kanda had cut him more deeply, but then he realized the new power felt... familiar. Almost comforting, if something that ran like acid in his veins could be described with that word.

He looked down as much as he could without moving his head, and saw that Kanda had taken the activated Innocence out of the sack and was holding it within Lavi's reach. It seemed to glow more brightly the closer it got to Lavi.

Lavi looked at it. Half of his subconscious was begging him to take it, while the other half was screaming at him to destroy it. His rational mind was afraid to touch it, terrified that Kanda was right and the reason it hurt so much to be near it was because he would Fall the moment he touched it. The other Noah were sensitive to the power of Innocence, but he'd never seen it actually _hurt_ them like this.

"Well?" Kanda growled. "If you're just going to stand there like an idiot, I'll kill you and be done with it."

Lavi tore his eyes away from the Innocence and met Kanda's gaze again. He managed a smile that felt sickly even to him. "Gimme a break, Yuu. I'm just trying to work up the nerve. I toldja once, I can't see or predict Innocence with my power. So I have no idea if I'm about to Fall or not."

Kanda's eyes widened, as if it hadn't occurred to him that Lavi might be worried about his fate. Despite his own insistence that Lavi would surely Fall, he'd probably assumed that Lavi could foresee that he wouldn't, otherwise why would he take the risk? Lavi only wished it was that simple.

Before he could chicken out entirely, Lavi drew a deep breath and seized the Innocence.

Power slammed into him, and Lavi thought he might have screamed. The world was consumed by a light so intensely green that it burned everything else away. The sensation tearing through every nerve in Lavi's body wasn't quite pain, but it wasn't pleasure either. Noah's voice in his head rose to an incoherent screech of pure rage, and something in the Innocence shrieked back in reply. Caught between an unstoppable force and an immovable object, Lavi was certain he was going to be torn to pieces.

" _Forgive me!_ " Lavi thought or said, he wasn't sure. He didn't know if he was being judged or if that was over and this was his punishment, but either way he felt compelled to beg forgiveness. Certainly mercy was something he didn't deserve, but surely even God could understand why he'd done what he had to, and forgive him for the necessity.

 _At least if I do Fall, Yuu's right there to kill me before I can hurt anyone,_ he struggled to comfort himself.

Lavi felt as if Something reached out and caught that thought, holding and weighing it like a physical thing. Noah screamed in protest, and the Something reached out and touched that, too.

For a blessed moment there was silence, with only the ringing in his ears to keep him company. Lavi assumed he was dead - surely that was the only way he would ever be free of Noah. At that moment, he thought death might be a small price to pay for peace. It didn't seem so bad after all.

Then sound returned, and with it came Noah's voice. This time it was a subdued mutter not much louder than it had been when Lavi had first awakened. It almost sounded... frightened.

The green light vanished as if it had never been. Gasping for air, Lavi stumbled and nearly slit his own throat on Mugen's blade. The increased pain made him jerk back instinctively, and he ended up pressed against the door. Kanda hastily took a step forward, keeping Mugen in place as if he thought Lavi had been trying to escape. "Why the hell should I?" he snarled.

Dazed and weak, Lavi just stared back at him. Eventually he remembered how words were supposed to work, and managed to croak, "What?"

Kanda's scowl deepened, "I said, why the hell should I forgive you?"

"Forgive..." Lavi's voice gave out on him, and he coughed. Realization dawned; Kanda hadn't seen the green light. Lavi must not have even moved - the whole thing must have lasted less than an instant.

A comfortingly solid weight rested in Lavi's right hand. He lifted it, trying to hide the way he was shaking, until he could see it without moving his head. A rush of relief went through him as he saw the hammer's familiar form. "It worked!"

So he'd been judged, and the Innocence had forgiven him. Lavi hadn't honestly expected it to, not after some of the things he'd done. But it had been a risk he'd had to take, and it had paid off.

He looked up again, grinning despite himself. The moment his eyes met Kanda's he was swept into a vision, as powerful as it had been the first time he'd seen it. Kanda moving over him, naked but for the gorgeous fall of his long, silken hair, and something painfully close to grief in his eyes...

The burning pain of Mugen against his neck increased, and for a twisted moment Lavi thought it was part of the vision. Then Kanda snarled at him and he was snapped back to reality once more.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Kanda snapped. "You're having _that_ vision _now_?"

Not all the burning sensation was due to Mugen, Lavi realized. Some of it was the heat of the flush creeping over his face. He hadn't caught so much as a glimpse of that particular future since he'd betrayed the Order and run off to join the Noah. He'd assumed that his actions at the time had cut that potential future off forever.

Apparently he'd just done something to make it appear again, unlikely as that seemed.

"I, uh." Lavi had no idea what to say to placate Kanda, so he tried the truth. "I'm as shocked as you are?"

For a moment Kanda looked like he was seriously thinking about ensuring the impossibility of that vision by the simple expedient of killing Lavi right now. Lavi even caught a fleeting ghost of a vision of Kanda chopping his head right off, but it was gone before he could react. In the end Kanda lifted Mugen and slashed through some of the rocks at the side of the stairwell instead, taking out his frustrations on them.

Lavi breathed a whole lot easier without the pressure of Mugen at his throat. His knees were still a little weak, so he slumped against the door gratefully, trying not to make it _too_ obvious that he was barely staying on his feet. No sense in showing weakness to the predator.

"I don't understand why the fuck you didn't Fall," Kanda said, eyeing Lavi with hatred clear in his eyes.

Lavi gave him a weak grin in response. "To be perfectly honest, Yuu, neither do I. I guess it agrees with me that everything I've done so far has been worth it."

"Hmph." Kanda seemed unimpressed with that logic. He turned to leave, though he didn't quite put his back to Lavi, edging up the stairs half sideways. Another thing that would have been funny if Lavi had the heart to laugh at it.

"Hey, Yuu. One more thing," he called. In for a penny... Almost all the futures now showed them surviving this encounter intact, and there was one more thing Lavi needed Kanda for.

Kanda stopped on the second to last step and looked back, braced like he was expecting an attack. Lavi's smile turned sad at this further proof that Kanda didn't trust him, and probably never would again. No, that vision definitely came under the heading of 'nice to think about, but never gonna happen'. Maybe it hadn't been a vision at all this time, just Lavi's overactive hormones getting carried away.

He did his best to give Kanda a winning look, even though he knew it wouldn't have much effect. He reached into his pocket and Kanda tensed further, but Lavi only pulled out a thick packet of papers. "Give this to Komui for me, will ya? Maybe that way it'll actually get to him in time to do some good."

Kanda looked at the papers like he expected them to turn into an Akuma, and for a moment Lavi's smile was real again. Reluctantly Kanda came down the stairs once more and all but snatched the papers out of Lavi's outstretched hand.

"Now get the hell out of here, before my Akuma get bored and temptation overcomes their desire to follow orders," Lavi commanded. He knew Kanda would probably take that as a threat rather than the warning it was, but as long as it got him to leave it didn't really matter.

With one last growl Kanda turned and ran up the steps, Mugen held ready and the sack of Innocence cradled tightly in his other arm.

"Noah-sama?" one of Lavi's Akuma called eagerly as Kanda crested the stairs.

" _No_ ," Lavi said as sternly as he could. "Leave him alone, let him go. _All_ of you," he added as a vision warned him. Sure enough he heard a couple of disappointed sighs at this confirmation that the order wasn't restricted to the Akuma who'd actually asked.

Lavi watched Kanda until the Exorcist was out of the considerable range of his powers. Then he looked down at the hammer in his hand, and smiled. Maybe he would survive this mess after all.

At the very least, he'd certainly given Kanda something to think about.


	12. Chapter 12

The papers made a satisfying thumping noise as they slammed down onto Komui’s desk, assisted by the force of Kanda’s hand behind them. “Care to explain the meaning of this?” the Exorcist snarled, eyebrow twitching as he glared down at Komui.

The older man beamed up at Kanda. If the implied threat in Kanda’s words and actions bothered him, it didn’t show in the least. “Kanda-kun! Welcome back. I was just about to send out search teams. I know you prefer to work by yourself, but it would really be helpful if you’d let me know where you are so I can give you your missions.”

Kanda’s scowl deepened. He glared harder at Komui, irritated that this encounter wasn’t going the way he’d intended it to. “Never mind that,” he snapped. “What the hell is this all about?”

“Well, it would help if I had any idea what was on those papers,” Komui pointed out in an overly reasonable tone of voice. “Why don’t you lift your hand and let me take a look?”

Reluctantly Kanda stepped back and folded his arms across his chest, waiting impatiently as Komui scanned the documents. Kanda knew what was written there; he’d opened the packet and read it the moment he’d been certain he was safely away from Lavi.

Apparently Lavi had expected him to do exactly that, because the top sheet had been a note addressed to him. The fact that he was behaving predictably had irritated Kanda, but not enough to keep him from reading the rest of it. The papers were full of information about everything Lavi had learned regarding the plans of Noah’s clan and the Earl, the placement and movement of Akuma, and warnings of possible future danger to certain Exorcists and locations.

There were two things about it that Kanda didn’t understand. The first was the note that had obviously been intended for his eyes only. _Shame on you for peeking, Yuu. I’m not asking you to believe any of this. But I am begging you to give it to Komui whether you believe it or not. Please._

It was the begging that got under Kanda’s skin. The former Bookman might be irreverent and casual to the point of carelessness, but he had a core of pride that matched Kanda’s own in many ways. Only twice had Kanda ever witnessed Lavi begging for _anything_ ; once when he’d pleaded with Komui to let him save Suman, and once when he’d begged Kanda to help him ‘save’ Tiedoll.

Kanda _had_ been momentarily tempted to just crumple the packet up and throw it away, but the ‘please’ had made him reconsider. So here he was, passing it on to Komui like a good little messenger boy, wondering if they dared to trust any of it or if it was a trap from the first word to the last.

And that was the second thing that bothered Kanda. The information itself hadn’t been written in a pleading way. There were no offers of evidence, no pleas for Komui to believe him. Just simple facts, laid out in a straightforward way. More like a briefing report than a letter, actually.

Komui brightened visibly as he read. “This is wonderful!” he exclaimed. “I mean, it’s not wonderful, obviously, it’s terrible. But he’s finally managed to get information to us early enough for us to act on it. We can prevent most of what he’s warned us about, if we move quickly enough. It’s a pity he couldn’t get more information on the Earl’s plans, but I suppose we can’t ask for everything…”

Snarling, Kanda slammed both hands down on the desk this time, making Komui jump. “What do you mean, ‘finally’?” he demanded, pushed past the limits of his patience. “Don’t tell me you’re just going to swallow all that without a trace of doubt?”

Komui looked first surprised, then thoughtful. His expression then shifted to something close enough to sympathy that it made Kanda growl at him. “Why bring this to me, then, if you still doubt him so much?” Komui asked softly, raising an eyebrow at Kanda.

“Because I want some fucking answers!” Kanda snapped back. He was sorely tempted to throttle the irritating man, but he restrained himself. Barely. There was a sickening sensation in the pit of his stomach and he badly wanted to lash out at someone or something, but he couldn’t find the right target to blame. At the moment, however, Komui was rapidly becoming an appealing substitute.

"Perhaps you should ask him yourself?" Komui said. "Ah, but I suppose you wouldn't trust anything he told you, would you? Hmm. Well, he didn't say _not_ to tell you, and he had to have seen this coming, so I suppose it can't do any harm at this point."

"Komui..." If Kanda hadn't wanted to hear this explanation so badly, he'd have stormed out of the room. Why did the man always have to be at his most frustrating when Kanda was least in the mood to deal with it? He had that trait in common with Lavi, come to think of it.

"After Lenalee finally gave up trying to convince me to allow you and Lavi to go after Suman, Lavi showed up at my office again," Komui said, his voice calm and even, his gaze steady on Kanda's. "He told me what he was planning and why, and I agreed with him that it was probably the best course of action. Having a spy inside the Ark would be - was - invaluable, and certainly more useful than him cooling his heels here. Unfortunately, this is the first time he's been able to get a report to me fast enough for me to be able to act on the information."

Kanda felt like a brick had dropped out of nowhere and smacked him in the head. "He's been under your orders the whole time," he repeated, disbelieving. And, he was a little surprised to discover, betrayed all over again. Why the hell hadn't Lavi just _told_ him, instead of tricking Kanda into believing he'd gone to the other side? The bastard had trusted Komui the blabbermouth, but not Kanda? And then he'd let Kanda spend weeks making a fool of himself, chasing after Lavi and causing more problems for him.

Thinking of that reminded him of some of his battles with the Exorcist-turned-Noah, however, and he scowled again. He and Daisya had nearly died in Barcelona, and Lavi was the one responsible for bringing the third level there in the first place. That wasn't the last time Kanda had come close to dying when facing off against the bastard, and Lavi had only laughed in his face each time.

Of course, he _had_ untied Kanda in the Ark, and helped Kanda disable Tyki Mikk. And delivered him back to the Order, mostly unharmed. Not to mention the fact that his Innocence had apparently accepted him back, which was the most baffling thing of all.

"Well, 'under orders' may be stretching it a bit," Komui said, watching Kanda carefully. Probably waiting to see if he was going to explode - and with good reason, Kanda thought, seething. "It would be more accurate to say he was operating with my blessing. Mine, not the Order's, mind. The Grand Generals will have my head if they ever find out about this."

"And you never thought it might be a good idea to tell me to stop chasing him from here to the end of creation?" Kanda demanded, practically vibrating with fury and humiliation... and yes, hurt. As much as he'd hated to admit it, his days of 'baby-sitting' Lavi had led him to a certain amount of respect and trust for the Noah, and that had been shattered when Lavi had turned on him. Now he was discovering it was a double betrayal, because it meant Lavi hadn't trusted him in turn.

"He specifically told me not to let you know," Komui said, his eyes sad for some reason. "Frankly, having you so obviously enraged at him was probably the best cover he could have had. Kanda..."

"Don't," Kanda snapped, not in the least wanting to hear whatever it was Komui wanted to say. It would be sympathetic, or consoling, or some other pitying emotion that Kanda absolutely did not want to deal with. "Just don't, Komui." He turned to stalk out of the room. As far as he was concerned, there was nothing more to be said.

"I need you to take that Innocence back to General Tiedoll," Komui called after him. "Kanda! Are you going to do your job, or do I have to call another Exorcist off an assignment and send him to Tiedoll?"

Pausing in the doorway, Kanda glared back over his shoulder with something close to hate in his eyes. The worst of it was, the emotion was directed more towards himself than to Komui. The other man had good reason to wonder if he could count on Kanda to actually follow orders, and not just go haring off on his own. "Fine. I'll leave in an hour."

Komui's reaction was relief, tempered with a certain amount of apprehension. "Then good luck. And Kanda, I'm..."

Kanda slammed the door behind him, not wanting to hear the rest of that sentence.

* * *

From their last reports on Tiedoll's location, the man was halfway to Asia. It would take Kanda most of a week to reach him, even travelling by train as much as possible. As he stared out the window at the passing countryside, he brooded over everything that had happened. The more he thought about it, the more he had to admit that Komui's explanation was the only one that made almost everything make sense. If Lavi had really turned on the Order, he wouldn't have saved Kanda in the Ark. His Innocence would have turned on him, and he would have Fallen.

The closer he came to accepting that as the truth, the more his mood soured. If there was one thing Kanda hated above all else, it was making an idiot of himself. And he'd been acting like a _monumental_ fool for the past months if Lavi really was still on their side. And it was all Lavi's fault for not just _telling_ him in the first damned place.

That was the part that rankled the most. Kanda wished he could just confront the bastard about it, get it out of his system and get the last of his questions answered. He spent the first days of his trip plotting ways that he might possibly get Lavi's attention, each more ridiculous than the last. The best thing he could come up with was picking a fight with an Akuma - or better yet, another Noah - that he couldn't win, on the theory that Lavi would see it and show up to save him.

Since the last thing Kanda wanted to do was injure his pride further by getting his ass handed to him, he didn't much like the idea. But he couldn't think of anything better. Of course, that would involve going off to find a powerful enough opponent, and _not_ going to Tiedoll like he was supposed to. He'd already promised Komui that he would stop being an idiot and do his job, and Tiedoll needed to have that Innocence so he could find more Accommodators.

By the time he was only a day from Tiedoll's last known location, Kanda had worked himself into a thoroughly bad mood. The other passengers on the trains he was riding had stopped coming anywhere near him about two days previously, which suited him just fine.

So when he felt someone settle next to him just as the train pulled away from another station, he went stiff in his seat. There were plenty of other empty seats, which meant his new companion was probably a busybody who wanted to 'help' him. That was the last thing Kanda needed, so he refused to turn or even acknowledge the person's presence, hoping they would get the idea and go away. Maybe he could pretend he didn't speak their language. Hell, this far into Eastern Europe, he probably didn't.

There was a soft chuckle from beside him. "Geez, Yuu. Y'go to all that trouble to get my attention, and then won't even talk to me? I'm hurt."

Shock kept him in place for another few heartbeats, and then Kanda nearly gave himself whiplash turning to look at his seatmate. Sure enough a single green eye laughed at him from beneath a shock of red hair, the stark black of the eyepatch on the other side hiding what Kanda knew was a mismatching gold eye. Lavi grinned at him unrepentantly, lounging in his seat, obviously not expecting any kind of physical retaliation from Kanda.

The worst of it was that he was right, too. If Kanda had still believed that Lavi was a traitor he wouldn't have cared in the least about making a scene, but as it was he didn't want to draw any more attention than he had to. He settled for glaring furiously at the redhead, which as usual didn't dent Lavi's good humour in the least.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Kanda finally snapped, when it became apparent that Lavi wasn't going to say anything more. "I haven't done anything."

"Well, no, not yet," Lavi admitted. "But as soon as you start planning something it shows up as a possible future. Not a _likely_ one, but there were so many variations popping up I figured I'd better come talk to you before you actually _acted_ on one of 'em. I can't do much to save you from another Noah except warn you away from the fight ahead of time, y'know."

"Why?" Kanda burst out. Belatedly he realized Lavi might think he was asking why he couldn't be saved from a fight, and clarified. "Why did you do it? Why the fuck didn't you just _tell_ me? Did you think I wouldn't believe you? Did you just enjoy watching me make an idiot of myself?"

Lavi's smile turned crooked, a sort of ironic quirk that managed to indicate sorrow at the same time. "Yuu, there are a lot of things about you that I respect and admire. Your acting ability ain't one of 'em."

He stopped there, as if that should have explained everything. Kanda shook his head, frustrated. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean?"

Lavi sighed, and the smile faded entirely. Once again he looked tired - the sort of exhaustion that reaches all the way to your soul. "I knew the Noah would be checking up on me, and if there had been even a tiny doubt that I had really turned against the Order, they'd have just killed me. I had to betray you for the same reason I had to steal that Innocence from Tiedoll and destroy it. I _had_ to convince them. Believe me, I spent that whole damned night trying to find a way to pull it off without actually breaking your trust, but I told you the truth when I said I couldn't do it without your help."

"And now?"

"Now it doesn't matter." Lavi shrugged. "They already know I'm a spy, thanks to that stunt Tyki pulled kidnapping you. I _should've_ just killed you. I was so damned close to finding out exactly what the Earl is planning with all this shit. It wouldn't even have been the first time I had to let an Exorcist die to keep my cover, just the first time I had to do it myself."

"So why didn't you, if it was such a smart thing to do?" Kanda demanded, eyes narrowed. "You didn't hesitate to set that fucking third level on us in Barcelona, how is that any different?"

"I did that to keep Suman from Falling," Lavi countered, which didn't make any sense whatsoever to Kanda. Suman hadn't been anywhere near Barcelona, as far as he knew. Seeing the incomprehension in his eyes, Lavi made an irritated noise. "Are you gonna make me go over every step I've made and explain how it all interconnects? Because it gets real damned complicated, real fast. Bringing that third level to Barcelona saved Suman, Kazana, and Chakkar, and had fifty-fifty odds of keeping Daisya alive as well. Why else would I have used Daisya's golem to tell you he was in trouble?"

"To taunt me," Kanda growled, still not sure he was buying this. "And you haven't answered my question. Obviously I'm expendable as far as you're concerned. So why break cover to save me?"

"Because you're not expendable, all right?" Lavi snapped back, looking deeply upset in a way Kanda had never seen from him before. It looked like something close to grief. "Not you, not Allen, not Lenalee. Not Bookman, for that matter. Anyone else I can sacrifice if I have to, but not you. Not if I had to do it _myself_."

That startled Kanda. The others he could understand - they were the people who had worked most closely with Lavi, and presumably whom Lavi cared about most. But he was surprised to find himself included.

Lavi's gaze was knowing, and Kanda found himself inexplicably flushing. "Yeah, you're on the list too, Yuu," the redhead said quietly. "Maybe before the time we spent stuck together at HQ you wouldn't have been, but you are now. It's funny, y'know? My whole life I've been training to be objective, to be able to keep myself apart from people and not let emotions interfere with my records. And that training let me make the hard choices, kept me sane when I had to make sacrifices for the greater good.

"Problem is, it also gives Noah an easy way in," he continued, and Kanda could see an echo of deep pain in his eyes. "I've _had_ to let myself start to care, and care a lot, because that's the only way I can hold him off. If I'd killed you on the Ark it wouldn't have accomplished anything but turning me into one of them for real, because the only way I could've done it was to let Noah take over completely."

They sat in silence for long moments as Kanda digested all of that. It seemed odd for Lavi to just stay quiet like that; before all this had started, he'd have been chattering his head off, teasing Kanda and poking at him, playing with his hair just to piss him off. Since Noah had manifested, Lavi had changed a great deal, and once he got past his sense of betrayal Kanda had to admit he preferred the new Lavi.

"So now what?" he finally asked, not sure what else to say.

"Now you get your ass to Tiedoll, get that Innocence back to him, and help Daisya and Noise protect him from the Noah that's tracking him," Lavi replied promptly. "And I go back to hiding from my darling brothers and sisters, doing what I can to keep the Earl from winning, and hold Noah off as long as possible. And, if I'm very lucky, I'll be able to send my reports to Komui through you, so they'll actually get somewhere in time for somebody to _do_ something about them."

The last might have been phrased as a statement, but it was clearly a question. Stiffly Kanda nodded, and Lavi visibly relaxed. Only then did Kanda realize just how tense the other man had been, the strain clear in the line of his shoulders and the tightness of his expression, despite his carefully casual posture.

"All right, then. We've got a chance of winning this fucking thing yet." Lavi smiled again. "I told you, I won't be on the losing side. I just didn't mean it quite the way you thought I did."

He stood, and Kanda saw that he was carrying his hammer in its sheath on his leg again. He looked so familiar, standing there, perfectly human and grinning as if nothing had changed. Yet he was out of uniform, and there were other subtle differences like the lines of pain and stress forming around his mouth and eyes. And, of course, the golden eye that Kanda _knew_ was beneath the eyepatch.

"See you around, Yuu," Lavi said, giving him a wave. "Try not to get ki..."

He broke off and staggered abruptly, grabbing at the back of the seat to try to keep his balance, one hand pressed to his eye - the covered one. "Fuck! Fuck, fuck, fuck," he muttered, sounding pained.

Kanda was half out of his seat, steadying and supporting the other man, before he realized what he was doing. When his brain caught up to his reflexes he grunted in irritation at himself, but there was no point in dropping Lavi now. He helped the redhead sit again, glaring at the other passengers until everyone suddenly found something much more interesting to occupy them.

"What did you see?" he asked as he turned his attention back to Lavi. The Noah had turned pale and was sweating, his visible eye wide with something like shock. There was no doubt in Kanda's mind that he'd just had another disturbing vision.

"Suman," Lavi whispered, anguished. "God _damn_ it! The vision of him Falling is back. He's still going to run into Tyki somewhere. Soon as you get to a phone you can hook your golem into, tell Komui he's gotta get Suman the hell out of the field. I don't care how important what he's doing is, we can't risk him."

"I will," Kanda promised grimly. They couldn't afford to lose Suman now any more than before, and if what Lavi had seen last time was still true, Suman's betrayal would result in the deaths of many more Exorcists.

Taking a deep breath, Lavi stood again. He was still pale and a little unsteady, but obviously in control of himself once more. "I gotta go, if I'm gonna find a way to head Tyki off. Catch up with Tiedoll as soon as you can, it's important."

"Where the hell are you going? We're still miles from the next stop," Kanda said, puzzled.

Lavi gave him a grin that wasn't quite up to his normal standard, but it came close. "I got better ways to travel these days. They'll pick me up off the end of the train. Take care, Yuu. I need you in one piece for a good long time yet."

Watching him walk away, Kanda still wasn't sure anything had been settled. He was convinced - mostly - of Lavi's sincerity now, but there was still something bothering him, deep down. He just wasn't sure what the hell it was.

Turning to glare out the window again, he caught a flash of something metallic to one side and behind. It was gone an instant later, probably taking Lavi with it. Sighing, Kanda settled in to brood some more. Surely if he just thought about it long enough, the world would start to make sense again.

Surely.


	13. Chapter 13

Though it might have come as a surprise to those who had known only his 'Lavi' alias, the former Bookman's apprentice wasn't given to actions that were rash or ill-considered. He hated being stupid, instead of just pretending to be, and 'suicidal' had never been his style.

All of those descriptions probably applied to what he was planning now, and several other uncomplimentary words besides. Worse, he knew it, and he was still going through with it. Lavi was so soaked in nervous sweat at this point that even through his gloves his grip on the hammer's shaft was slipping, and only his headband kept sweat from pouring into his eyes.

"Here we go," he said to himself as a cluster of people in dark uniforms entered the valley through the pass across the river. His voice cracked on the last word, and he realized he was in danger of hyperventilating. Lavi swallowed hard and forced his breathing to slow, and firmed his grip on the hammer.

Below the little cliff where he lay hidden, Suman Dark and his companions made their way along the riverbank, heading for the pass on the side closest to Lavi. They were tense and nervous, looking around the valley like they expected an ambush at any moment. Lavi smiled sardonically. Even though he'd ordered his Akuma to hide in the next valley over, their presence had scared off all the local wildlife. Every Exorcist worth his jacket knew what it meant when there weren't any birds or animals around. Unfortunately for them, being alert wasn't nearly enough to save them from what was coming.

Lavi wasn't paying much attention to them, however. His gaze was focused on the future, watching as various possibilities faded and merged, channelling events into one probability that was fast approaching certainty. Even as he watched, the last of the futures where Suman didn't Fall vanished - at the same moment a darkly amused voice spoke up from the other side of the river.

"Well, well, what have we here?" Tyki Mikk all but purred, stepping out of the sheer rock face where he'd been hiding. "Don't tell me you three have left your general unguarded? I didn't expect you to make it so easy for me, but I do thank you for your consideration." The Noah doffed his top hat to them, his grin widening rapidly until it passed normal human limits, becoming something closer to a shark's smile. "Let's dance, shall we?"

The three Exorcists shouted in horror and scrambled to activate their Innocence as Tyki sank into the ground, vanishing in an instant. _Run_ , Lavi tried to shout, but his throat closed on the word and he couldn't force his voice to work. For an awful moment terror held him paralysed, his foresight screaming at him that interfering would get him killed and his instincts trying to force him to flee instead.

"Where did he go?" Chakkar shouted, turning in place to try to find the Noah. Tyki appeared out of the rock behind him, moving almost too fast to follow, a dark butterfly resting in his hand. He shoved his hand _into_ the Exorcist from behind, making Chakkar scream and flail. When Tyki stepped back a moment later, his hand was empty, and Lavi knew with sick certainty that it was now too late to save Chakkar.

Not too late to save the others, though. Lavi forced himself to picture Lenalee and Kanda in place of Kazana and Suman, and Allen in place of Chakkar writhing on the ground. It wasn't a hard substitution to make; he knew perfectly well that Tyki would eventually do the same or worse to his friends if Lavi didn't stop him here and now.

The terrible image finally gave Lavi the strength he needed to overcome his fear, and with a hoarse shout he threw himself off the cliff. He activated his Innocence and extended the shaft rapidly as he fell, then used it as a fulcrum to swing his momentum towards the combatants on the other side of the river.

He touched down and immediately launched himself forward once more, just barely managing to shove himself between Tyki and Kazana before Tyki could push a Tease into the Exorcist. Tyki's power couldn't work on Lavi any more than Lavi's worked on him, and the Noah's hand bounced off Lavi's chest harmlessly.

Tyki took a step back, badly startled by the unexpected intrusion, but his golden eyes narrowed when he saw Lavi. "You," he said, his suave purr turned into something closer to a snarl. "If it isn't the prodigal son himself. You've got a lot of nerve, showing up here."

Lavi didn't ignore him, because taking his attention off Tyki even for an instant would mean losing the faint, flickering vision of hope that had returned to life the moment he'd entered the fight. There was now the barest possibility that Suman wouldn't Fall, and Lavi had to do everything he could to nurture that hope. But he didn't dignify the taunting with a response, either. "Run!" he shouted instead at the two living Exorcists, who were staring between him and their fallen comrade with identical looks of despair on their faces.

Tyki snapped out his foot, aiming for Lavi's ankles. Lavi jumped over the attack and swung his hammer around to block the punch that followed, and had the satisfaction of seeing Tyki flinch slightly as the other Noah's hand encountered the power of the Innocence.

"You tricked me," Tyki said, shaking his hand as if trying to make it stop stinging. "You lying little snake. That Innocence you destroyed wasn't yours at all, was it?"

"It wasn't exactly hard to fool you. I was so worried you'd see that the piece wasn't activated and realize what it meant, but you never even noticed," Lavi retorted. The longer he could keep Tyki talking, the more time the Exorcists would have to get away.

Except they weren't moving, damn it. They looked like they weren't sure whether they should be attacking him or Tyki. "Don't just stand there, idiots! Run for it while you have the chance," Lavi snapped at them.

"Don't tell me you're trying to save them?" Tyki taunted him, backing off and smirking at him from just out of the current reach of Lavi's hammer. "You don't think they'll appreciate the effort, do you? After everything you've done? The Exorcists you've hurt, the Innocence you've destroyed?"

"You... you don't fool us," Suman said, the frantic look in his eyes belying his brave words. "Everyone in the Order knows you're a Noah now, Lavi. The last thing we're going to do is what you tell us to."

Lavi swore, and exchanged another flurry of blows with Tyki before the bastard sank into the ground again, still smirking. Tightening his grip on his hammer, he tried to watch the whole valley at once, waiting for Tyki's next attack. He should have realized that the Exorcists would believe he was trying to trap them, but he'd been so focused on his suicidal plan to attack Tyki that he hadn't even thought about it. "Damn it, I'm not trying to fool you, I'm trying to save your lives! You shouldn't need _me_ to tell you to get the fuck out of here!"

"We're not leaving," Kazana said grimly, sounding a great deal firmer than Suman had. He stood with his back against the cliff, Innocence activated and aimed straight at Lavi. "If you both want us out of here so badly, there must be something important. We're not going t-"

He choked on his words, his eyes going wide as blood suddenly trickled over his lip. A dark hand thrust right through his chest, emerging on the other side holding a pulsing mass of bloody flesh that could only have been the man's heart. An instant later Tyki stepped out of the cliff and pushed Kazana away from him, his arm passing through the Exorcist's body again as if it wasn't even there. Kazana fell to the ground, gasping, hands clutching at his chest as he writhed.

"No!" Suman cried, falling to his knees. "Please, don't kill me! I..."

"Suman, don't do it," Lavi shouted, horrified. This was exactly the moment he'd been trying to prevent. "You'll Fall, d'you hear me? You're dead either way, don't give him what he wants!" Suman looked panicked, and Lavi hoped that meant the idea of Falling was even less appealing to the man than the thought of dying. Lavi lashed out at Tyki with his hammer, trying to buy Suman an opening to run for it. If the idiot would get up and actually take it, anyway.

"Really, now?" Tyki perked up and actually looked interested, even as he casually dodged Lavi's attacks. "I've always wanted to see a Fallen Exorcist. But it appears I'm going to have to get you out of the way, first." He stepped back into the cliff face again, melting into the rock like an apparition.

Lavi took the risk of turning to Suman, grabbing the Exorcist by the arm and hauling him roughly to his feet. Suman was a parasite type like Allen, and just touching him made it feel like Lavi's hand was being dipped in acid, but he gritted his teeth and ignored the pain. "Snap out of it," he commanded, shaking Suman. "Stop worrying about dying, and _run_! I'll buy you as much time as I can."

"But..." Suman protested faintly, his gaze fixed on Lavi's golden eyes. Lavi was in his Noah aspect, knowing that he would need even the tiny amount of concentration it took to hold his human appearance if he hoped to survive a fight with Tyki.

Lavi shook the man again. "Angst later, run now!" He released him, giving Suman a hard shove to get him started in the direction of the pass out of the valley. At the same time he swung his hammer around, smashing the hammer into the ground just ahead of Suman.

His powers might not work against Tyki, but his intuition was functioning just fine. The other Noah gave a yell of pain as the hammer connected just as he was appearing out of the ground. Lavi laughed and increased the weight of it exponentially, though he knew it wouldn't be that easy to kill the other man. Sure enough Tyki melted into the ground again, leaving the hammer pressing against nothing but rock.

At least Suman was moving now, running like the hounds of hell were after him - which they were, in a manner of speaking. Tyki might be human-shaped, but all of the Noah were creatures of hell, as Lavi knew better than anyone.

Now it was up to Lavi to keep Tyki occupied long enough for Suman to escape. Not that the Exorcist could physically get out of reach of Tyki, but he could at least make it back to his general, where he had a much better chance of surviving. "What's the matter, afraid to come out and face me?" Lavi taunted.

"Oh, please." Tyki sounded bored. "Trying to goad me into an enraged attack? That might work on Skin, but not me." Try as he might, Lavi couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. "You really ought to know better, _little brother_."

Without his visions to warn him, Lavi was caught totally off guard when Tyki stepped out of the cliff and slammed a fist into his gut. Lavi swung his hammer around, but Tyki was gone again, dancing away with a laugh and vanishing into the rock once more.

"You'll have to do better than that," Lavi wheezed, trying not to sound too obviously like he was fighting for air. Which he was; Tyki might not be able to use his power to rip Lavi apart from the inside out, but that didn't stop him from packing a mean punch.

"I plan to," Tyki taunted him, and lunged up out of the ground. Lavi swung the hammer at him, and Tyki dodged adroitly aside. Lavi had been expecting that, however; his plan had never been to strike with the hammer, but rather to keep Tyki from striking _him_ just long enough.

"Ten ban!" he shouted, and slammed the hammerhead into the ground as the seal for his lightning attack formed on the head. Thunder crashed deafeningly, and lightning struck the ground all around them. Tyki took at least one good blow before he sank into the ground again, Lavi was pleased to see. Maybe, with the help of his Innocence, he had a chance of winning this battle after all.

In what had become an automatic reflex, he checked the future to see what was coming next. When battling with Kanda his powers had given him the edge he'd needed to stay one step ahead of the other Exorcist, keeping both of them alive without making it obvious that Lavi wasn't fighting seriously. This time, however, his vision showed him only _results_ , unable to predict what exactly Tyki was going to do - and the vast majority of the current possible futures ended in Lavi's rather gruesome death.

Shaking off the disturbing visions cost him a moment of distraction he couldn't afford. When he blinked and focused on reality again, he was rewarded with the horrifying sight of Tyki's shark grin as the other Noah reached for Tettsui with the obvious intention of reverting and crushing it.

" _No_!" Lavi cried, and frantically shrank the hammer back to its normal size to get it out of Tyki's reach.

That, of course, left him completely vulnerable. His grin impossibly widening, Tyki lashed out and backhanded Lavi squarely across the jaw.

There was a moment of disorientation and a strange ringing in his ears. The next thing Lavi was actually aware of was hitting the ground. Hard. The air was knocked out of his lungs _again_ , and he choked and wheezed desperately. His jaw felt like it was on fire, and he must have struck his head when he'd gone down because he was literally seeing stars.

Still smiling like the monster he was, Tyki kicked Lavi in the groin, his heavy boot connecting solidly with the tender flesh there. Retching with pain, Lavi curled up in an instinctive effort to try to protect the bruised area. Tyki simply switched to kicking him in the ribs, which was not quite as painful but potentially more lethal.

"What, is that all you can do?" Tyki asked, his voice as pleasant as if they were merely having a discussion over tea. "An Exorcist _and_ a Noah, and that's the best you can manage? I'm disappointed. I expected better of you."

"Go... to... hell," Lavi managed to gasp, glaring up at Tyki. The other man promptly smashed his foot into Lavi's face, breaking his nose and damned near kicking his eye in. The thick blood running down the back of his throat made it even harder for Lavi to breathe, and his world narrowed to Tyki's gloating smile and the agonizing effort to get air.

"You first, brother dearest," Tyki said, his eyes alight with a manic gleam. "Tease!"

A cloud of deadly butterflies erupted from the Noah's chest, and Lavi groaned. Tyki might not be able to put the Tease into his body to eat him alive from the inside out, but there was nothing stopping them from eating him from the outside in. Especially not while he was lying here helpless on the ground like a... like a damned Finder!

The cloud of butterflies was nibbling at every exposed inch of his skin, leaving raw, bloody wounds in their wake. It was agonizing, and more than a little distracting. He couldn't gather the concentration to summon his seals or even to expand the hammer again so he could lash out. Lavi tried to flail, to throw them off or chase them away, but they just flew out of reach of his hands until he stopped, then immediately descended on him again.

He couldn't see anything beyond the dark wings, but he could hear Tyki laughing over the sucking sounds of them eating his flesh. Closing his eyes to keep the butterflies from eating _them_ , Lavi gritted his teeth and invoked every bit of his training in discipline as a Bookman. Slowly he managed to separate his consciousness from his body, going into a sort of half-trance that let him distance himself from the pain enough to use his powers. He couldn't fight back, he couldn't hope to win this battle, but if he could at least see for certain that Suman would escape, he could die knowing that he'd accomplished something.

Visions of possible futures flashed before his inner eye, but no matter how hard he looked he couldn't see a single branch that included a world where Suman didn't Fall. The image of the monster the man would become loomed large in Lavi's eyes, impossible to look away from.

For the first time in his life Lavi honestly, truly despaired. Was this it? Everything he'd done, all the sacrifices he'd made, all for nothing?

 _At least Yuu doesn't still hate me,_ he comforted himself. _At least I got a chance to tell him the truth before I died._ The Tease had peeled the skin from his body, and were now starting on the muscle beneath. The increased pain crashed over Lavi and broke his wavering concentration. He cried out in agony, thrashing in a futile effort to chase them off.

There was a sound unlike anything produced in nature, a sort of metallic shriek underlain by a high-pitched whine. It was a distinctive sound instantly recognizable to any Exorcist - or any Noah. A moment later the Akuma's cannons fired, a hail of glowing bullets streaking through the air to chew up the ground all around Lavi. When they struck a Tease the butterfly evaporated in a puff of dark smoke. They also struck Lavi, of course. As a Noah he was immune to the Akuma virus, but that didn't stop the physical damage caused by the bullets from hurting like a bitch.

Lavi clung to consciousness by the skin of his teeth, refusing to give in and pass out. He knew he would probably never wake up again if he did, and he wanted to be aware of every last moment of life he had left, no matter how painful it was.

Cursing, Tyki vanished into the cliff face again to avoid the hail of bullets. He was immune to the virus just like Lavi, but also like Lavi he _wasn't_ immune to the physical damage. "You _dare_ to strike a Noah?" he snarled at the Akuma from inside the cliff.

A blast of dark energy shot across the sky like a spreading ink stain, seeming to suck all the light into it. It slammed right through three of the Akuma, and they exploded just as they would have if struck by Innocence. Lavi hadn't seen Tyki use that particular power before. He'd have been impressed, if he hadn't been so busy just trying to stay alive. The hail of bullets around him stopped once the Tease were all gone, which helped a great deal.

Another blast of energy took out two more of the Akuma, and the rest scattered so that they wouldn't be such easy targets. "Get... out of here," Lavi ordered his servants. He'd told them to stay hidden in the other valley precisely because he hadn't wanted them destroyed as part of his own suicidal plan. Perhaps it was ridiculous for an Exorcist to be protecting _Akuma_ , but they'd stopped being monsters to him when they'd been the only allies he had left.

"Noah-sama! We won't leave you," cried his favourite. Two more blasts cut their numbers down further, leaving less than half his original group.

Slowly, painfully, he managed to roll so he was on his hands and knees, but he couldn't seem to force himself any further upright. The exposed parts of his body that he could see looked like so much raw meat. His ribs screamed at him and he felt sharp, stabbing pains every time he tried to take a breath, and he was so dizzy from blows to the head that he was seeing _triple_. But one of the things he was seeing three of was Tyki; the other Noah had stepped out of the cliff for better aim now that the hail of bullets had stopped. The Akuma wouldn't be able to hurt him again now that the element of surprise was gone, but he could certainly hurt _them_.

It felt like Lavi might have broken fingers as well as ribs, but he forced his hand to close around the shaft of his hammer anyway. Weightless or not he had no hope of actually wielding it at the moment, but now that the Tease were no longer tormenting him he could gather his concentration. And the size of his hammer was irrelevant to his seals.

"Hi ban," he whispered, using the last of his strength to slam the tiny hammer down as hard as he could. Fire erupted in a swirling snake around Tyki, who screamed and vanished.

For a moment Lavi dared to hope he'd actually killed the bastard, but Tyki's voice echoed out of the cliff face and dashed his hopes. "Don't think this is over, traitor. Even if you survive this, I'll only hunt you down again. You and I have a score to settle, and I intend to charge interest."

Nothing else happened - no more blasts of energy or unsubtle taunts. When one minute had stretched to five, Lavi let himself collapse again. Tyki was gone, for whatever reason. Either Lavi had succeeded in hurting him or he'd just gotten bored, it didn't matter. Tyki was right about one thing. It wasn't likely Lavi would survive this, even with a Noah's healing ability. Not without help he was unlikely to get.

"Noah-sama?" a hesitant voice asked. Lavi opened his eyes, and found his favourite hovering over him. There was no sign of any of the rest of his dozen.

"The others?" he croaked, and the Akuma shook its head. To his surprise, Lavi felt his chest tighten with grief. They were only Akuma, but they'd been the closest thing to friends he'd had for a while now.

"You should... go," he said, forcing himself to try to focus through the pounding in his head. "I won't... be able to protect you. He might come back."

"I won't leave you!" it declared again, and if it had been human Lavi would have said it was near tears. Could Akuma cry?

Awkward metal hands closed around him, jarring his injuries even though the Akuma was clearly trying to be gentle. "What...?" Lavi started, but one of the broken ribs jabbed something sensitive inside and he broke off with a grimace of pain.

"I'm taking you to the others," the Akuma said firmly, as if that should settle everything. "They'll know what to do."

"Others?" Lavi resisted the urge to shake his head to clear it, knowing it would only make things worse. "You can't go back to the Ark. They'll kill me, and destroy you for serving me." He was rapidly losing his hold on consciousness, and he struggled futilely to hang on. He'd rather die out here alone than be delivered back to the tender mercies of his darling 'family', who might just save his life so they could torture him some more.

"Not the other Noah-sama," the Akuma said. "The other Exorcists."

Startled, Lavi tried to protest, but at that moment the Akuma pushed off the ground into the air and the jolt shook Lavi loose from his last hold on reality. Blackness rushed up to meet him, and he could only hope he wouldn't survive long enough for his Akuma to reach the Order. The Exorcists might not torture him to death... but the Grand Generals might do that or worse if they thought it would allow them to gain an advantage over the Noah.


	14. Chapter 14

Noise Marie lifted his head abruptly, eyes focused on the horizon hidden behind a thick screen of trees. "Something's coming," he announced, cutting Daisya off in the middle of a rambling story. "One Akuma. Second level, I think. And... something else."

"Shit, it's not another third level, is it?" Daisya asked, going pale. He still carried scars from his only previous encounter with a third level, and always would. Kanda couldn't blame him for being nervous at the thought.

Kanda had to admit _he_ wasn't particularly eager to face another one of those again. Even with a general backing him up.

Thankfully, Noise shook his head. "No, it's not an Akuma... I don't think. It sounds a little like an Akuma, but also a little like an Exorcist."

Kanda's eyes widened. There was only one person he could think of that could possibly fit that description, but why on earth would Lavi be coming to him _here_? Noise, Daisya and Tiedoll didn't know the truth about Lavi's 'defection', and Daisya and Tiedoll in particular both had reasons to shoot first and ask questions of the body.

"Well, whatever it is, it sure picked the wrong road to travel," Daisya said, cracking his knuckles with a wild grin. He tugged his Innocence from its place at the end of his hood, and it was already glowing bright green. "We'll just give it a warm welcome, shall we?"

"Daisya, wait!" Kanda exclaimed, dismayed. Damn it, how the fuck was he going to keep them from just attacking Lavi? Couldn't the idiot have waited until he was alone? And why had he been stupid enough to bring an Akuma with him? What the hell could be _this_ important?

"Too bad, Kanda. I called the first shot already!" Daisya's eyes sparkled as he drew his foot back, preparing to kick as the Akuma became visible through the trees.

"Exorcists!" The Akuma exclaimed when it caught sight of them. But it wasn't the usual 'I'm going to rip you into tiny pieces and turn you to dust' angry tone Akuma used when sighting an Exorcist. It sounded almost... desperate. "Exorcists! Truce, truce!"

"Daisya, wait," Tiedoll said, putting a hand on his protege's arm and holding him back. "I've never heard an Akuma ask for truce before, not even when it was dying. Let's see what this one wants."

"It's just a second level, we can take care of it if it's a trap," Kanda added, scanning the area to try to find Lavi. The Akuma was carrying something in its arms, an odd sort of limp, red doll, but he didn't see any sign of the Noah.

Then his mind finally accepted what his eyes were actually seeing, and he realized he _was_ looking at Lavi. For once it was the dark hair and the Crown of Thorns that let him identify the other man, because his face was so torn-up and bloody that it hardly looked human. Kanda swallowed hard, seeing muscle and even bone in some places in the half-healed, raw wounds. What the hell could _do_ that to someone? To _anyone_ , let alone a Noah and an Exorcist?

"Is that... a _person?_ " Daisya said, horrified, realizing the truth a heartbeat behind Kanda.

"It's a Noah," Tiedoll said warily. "See the stigmata?"

"Exorcists!" the Akuma said a third time. It had stopped to hover a relatively safe distance away, and now extended its arms as if offering them the limp body it held. "Please, help him. Please."

"Why the hell would it come to _us_ asking for help?" Daisya asked, bewildered. "Why not go to the other Noah?"

"Because it's Lavi," Kanda said shortly. He walked forward cautiously, keeping a close eye on the Akuma. His hand was tight on Mugen's hilt, just in case the monster decided to attack him after all, but he thought he understood what was going on now. "You!" he called to the Akuma. "Put him down. We'll take him."

"Kanda, what are you _doing_?" Daisya hissed.

"This is almost certainly a trap," Noise agreed.

"Kanda..." Tiedoll looked worried as well, but he didn't actually say anything to stop the younger man. He knew Kanda too well to bother trying.

"I know what I'm doing," Kanda snapped. Tiedoll and the others closed in behind him, and the proximity of so many Exorcists was obviously making the Akuma extremely nervous. Reluctantly it laid Lavi on the ground and backed off a few steps, and Kanda got a better look at the man's wounds. He wished he hadn't. He controlled his expression rigidly, refusing to allow his horror to show, but his companions weren't as discreet.

"Jesus Christ." Daisya's voice was low and fervent, and he crossed himself in what looked like a reflexive gesture. "I'm probably first in line behind you to hate the guy, Kanda, but... fuck. I wouldn't wish that on a rabid dog. What could _do_ that to someone?"

"Tyki." The croaked word was so hoarse the voice was unrecognizable, and it took Kanda a moment to realize it was Lavi who had spoken. The Noah had opened one golden eye, and was watching them warily. "Or rather... his pet... butterflies. Cute, huh?"

"To save Suman," Kanda said, not making it a question. It was the only thing that made sense, given all the pieces of the puzzle he knew. Lavi nodded minutely. Kanda glared at him. "That was stupid."

To his surprise, the Noah chuckled softly. "Yeah. I know. Did it anyway. Didn't actually... expect to survive."

"Did it work?" Kanda asked, kneeling beside him and forcing himself to take a closer look at the man's wounds. They _were_ healing, even as he watched - apparently the Noah had powers of regeneration as strong as the spell on Kanda. But even so it was a slow process, and Lavi had to be in agony. To the man's credit, he didn't so much as whimper.

To his dismay, Lavi shook his head slightly. "Just... delayed." He closed his eye again and his face twisted briefly as if in horror, then he opened both eyes to look at Kanda. "It's happening... now."

"Then Suman has Fallen," Kanda said grimly. He heard gasps of shock behind him.

"Suman? Fallen?" Tiedoll said, crouching beside Lavi next to Kanda. Lavi flinched like he expected a blow, but Tiedoll didn't seem angry with the Noah, just concerned.

"Not... yet," Lavi said. "It's not... an instant process. By the... end of the week. Others... will die first. Suman betrayed us."

"Us?" Daisya echoed, and he _did_ sound angry. "You've got a lot of nerve saying something like that after what you've done!"

Lavi looked right at him, and his golden eyes were icy enough to drop the temperature in the area. "How would _you_ get a spy into the Ark? Tell everyone in the Order what you were doing?" he demanded, his voice a little stronger than it had been. Daisya looked so stunned Lavi might as well have hit him with his hammer.

"Of course," Tiedoll exclaimed. "Of course, I understand now. I couldn't comprehend why you had left Kanda and I alive and still with our Innocence. I thought it was just a vestige of your true self, but... yes, it all makes sense. Kanda, you knew?"

"I found out from Komui last time I was at Headquarters," Kanda said, embarrassed all over again by the idiot he'd made of himself chasing after Lavi.

"But... but you're a Noah!" Daisya protested.

This time the look Lavi gave him showed a core of steel beneath the ice. "Noah doesn't control me yet."

All this time the Akuma had been watching them anxiously from a short distance away, looming like a dark threat and shifting back and forth on its feet. Its gaze was fixed on the Exorcists clustered around its master, warily alert in case one of them should attack. "Noah-sama?" it spoke, sounding like a frightened child. "Wh-what should I do now?"

Lavi's gaze warmed as he turned his head to look at his servant. "You did good," he rasped. "You saved me. Thank you. Now I need you to trust me one more time. Look at me."

"Noah-sama..." it whined.

" _Look at me._ " Lavi's voice held a sharp tone of command that Kanda had never heard from him before. It was as if the Akuma literally could not disobey, because it immediately shifted to look at Lavi and only Lavi. The Noah's tone softened again. "That's it. Don't move, and don't look away from my eyes. It's better this way, I promise. Trust me?"

"Okay," it said, slumping. It stood there docilely, its head hanging, its eyes fixed on Lavi and no one else.

"Yuu?" Lavi murmured, and Kanda nodded. He stood and drew Mugen, activating it in the same motion, so that the Akuma didn't have a chance to see what was coming. With one swift lunge he cut its head from its body, then ran it through just for good measure.

The explosion it made was relatively small, but he saw Lavi wince anyway. Then it was over, and the Noah relaxed.

"Thank you," he croaked. "It seems wrong to reward loyalty by killing it, but I know it's the best thing that could happen for it."

"You sound like you're grieving for the thing," Daisya said. "It's just a monster. You should've killed it to start with."

For the third time, Lavi glared at Daisya. "Oh yeah? I dare you to say that to Krory," he said, his voice low and dangerous. Daisya flinched, and this time he had the grace to look shamed. Everyone in the Order had heard the story of Krory and his Akuma lover, and nobody doubted or questioned the validity of Krory's grief for her. That Eliade had been an Akuma only made the whole thing more heartbreaking.

"That's enough, Daisya," Tiedoll said firmly. "Kanda trusts him, and I trust Kanda's judgement."

"He still has his Innocence," Noise spoke up suddenly, his deep voice rumbling in surprise. "That's the sound I heard, before."

"Got it back at the same time I gave Yuu the rest of Tiedoll's Innocence," Lavi said. "Only thing that saved me against Tyki. If you can call this 'saved'. I'll heal, but first I have to survive long enough."

"We'll take you with us," Kanda said, but Tiedoll was already shaking his head.

"He's too injured to be moved far," Tiedoll said. "Kanda, you take him back to the town we just passed, and stay with him until he's well enough to travel. Then you can both catch up with us, or do whatever needs to be done."

"Wouldn't that cause problems?" Kanda asked Lavi, remembering what the Noah had told him on the train. "You said I needed to be with Tiedoll."

Lavi's eyes unfocused, as they did when he was checking the future. "No," he said slowly. "Probably not. Saving Daisya in Barcelona improved the odds against Tiedoll a lot. You were just insurance, plus you needed to get the Innocence back to him."

" _Saving_ me?" Daisya repeated incredulously, but Noise hushed him.

"You need to get to Japan as fast as possible," Lavi said, his eyes focusing on Tiedoll again. "You have to be there by the time Lenalee and the others arrive, or they'll all die. Your odds of surviving if Kanda's not with you go down, but they're still decent."

"Then that's what we'll do," Tiedoll said firmly. He patted Lavi's shoulder gently, mindful of the man's injuries, and stood. "Daisya, Noise, divide up our supplies and leave some with Kanda."

Daisya was still grumbling a bit under his breath as he and Noise obeyed, but he didn't actually object. Kanda surveyed Lavi, trying to figure out how to carry the man with the least amount of damage, and concluded that the Akuma had had the right idea. They were going to look ridiculous, staggering back into the village with Kanda carrying the man like a gruesome bride, but there was no way around it. He didn't think Lavi would be able to hang on if he slung the man over his back.

"General!" Lavi called as the three Exorcists prepared to leave. Tiedoll paused and looked back, one eyebrow raised. "Watch out for a big guy with a sweet tooth. Skin's been on your trail for weeks, and he won't go down easily if he does catch up with you. And... I'm sorry. Forgive me?"

Tiedoll smiled and shook his head. "You were forgiven long before you asked, son. The moment I woke after it happened. I'm just glad to know that you're still on our side, after all. Kanda, take care of him."

Kanda nodded, and they watched as the three men headed off. As they rounded a curve in the trail and vanished behind the trees, Lavi commented softly, "I will never understand that man."

"Neither will I," Kanda grunted, hefting Lavi carefully in his arms. "But the world needs more people like him - even if he is irritating sometimes."

Lavi huffed a soft laugh, despite the pain he obviously experienced from being picked up. "Yuu, if we eliminated everyone from the world who annoys you, there wouldn't be anyone _left_."

* * *

Lavi's flesh wounds healed faster than a normal human's would have, but being a Noah couldn't fix broken bones in just a few hours. It also apparently didn't prevent him from getting an infection. By the end of the first day, he was feverish. By the second, he was outright delirious.

At least, Kanda sincerely hoped he was delirious, because some of the things he talked about were horrifying to hear even second hand. If they were visions of the future, Kanda didn't want to know about it. Listening to him pleading with a non-existent Bookman to forgive him and take him back would have been bad enough. Hearing him sobbing over Allen's 'crushed body' or shouting for people to 'get off' Lenalee was worse. But when he dreamed about Kanda, all that emerged were whimpers of agony, apology, and grief.

At first Kanda did his best to ignore it, simply tending the man as best as he could. He was no kind of nurse, and this sort of thing was something he normally hated doing, fretting over time wasted that he could have better spent elsewhere. This time, though, he wasn't quite as irritable about it as usual. Maybe it was just that Lavi had certainly earned the right to have _someone_ looking after him, someone who gave a flying fuck whether he lived or died, and knew the sacrifices he had made.

Or maybe it was just that Kanda knew, deep down, that if he'd found some way to pass on the responsibility to someone else, he'd only have spent all his time worrying about the man anyway.

Finally he just couldn't take it any more. The next time Lavi started whimpering his name, Kanda rapped him sharply on the shoulder. "I'm right here, idiot," he snapped. "Nothing's happening to me. Stop whining."

To his surprise, Lavi's unbroken hand shot out and caught his wrist in a surprisingly strong hold, and the Noah opened both golden eyes to stare up at him. He looked desperate, his eyes shining like liquid metal with the heat of the fever. "Yuu?" he croaked, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "Are you... really here?"

"As much as I wish I were anywhere else," Kanda muttered, rolling his eyes. "Tiedoll ordered me to take care of you, remember? Drink some water, since you're awake. Dripping it down your throat is fucking annoying."

He turned to grab the water pitcher, intending to pour a cup of the cool liquid, but Lavi tightened his grip further and prevent him from moving away from the bed. " _No!_ God, Yuu, please... please, don't leave. Keep talking to me, anything, please. Just... just so I know you're here. Please."

Something in Lavi's expression made Kanda shiver, and after a moment he reluctantly sat on the edge of the bed. He turned his hand over, clasping Lavi's in turn. "I'm right here," he repeated, and the words came out gently without him meaning them to. "I'm not going anywhere. Idiot," he added for good measure, just in case Lavi thought he was going soft.

That earned him the ghost of a smile. "Don't be nice for my sake, Yuu," Lavi rasped. "I like you the way you are. And it means I know it's really you."

"Does it help?" Kanda asked, a little sceptically.

"Yeah." Lavi nodded weakly. "It's Noah, see... he's throwing every vision of the worst possible futures he can find at me, forcing me to see you and the others dying horribly, over and over again. Or... worse." He shuddered, and Kanda decided he really didn't want to know what 'worse' might be. Given the nature of the war they were in, he could think of plenty of 'worse' things than dying without any help from Lavi. "He's trying to shake me loose of my attachments," Lavi continued. "Except it's backfiring. It's just making me more determined to prevent that from happening, and convincing me more than ever that I do really care about you and the others."

"So the things you're seeing are real futures?" Kanda asked, heart sinking. Was the future _that_ horrible for them?

"Not likely ones," Lavi hastily assured him. "When I first got my powers I only saw things that would affect me directly, or things that were almost sure to happen. Now I see _everything_. Every possibility, every fluctuation. And it's constantly changing, because human free will means we can alter our destinies with a choice, a relationship, even a thought. And even if something is highly probable, that doesn't mean it's a certainty. Gets real confusing, real fast."

"Sounds like it," Kanda said, shaking his head. His head hurt just trying to _imagine_ all that. He couldn't fathom what it would be like to live with it. Anyone but Lavi would probably have gone truly insane by now.

But he'd thought about it in silence too long, apparently. Lavi's eyes had glazed over, and he started to toss again. Now it was Kanda's turn to tighten his grip, to hold the other man still. "Stop that," he ordered. "Stay with me, damn it. Don't give in to Noah."

"I won't," Lavi swore, his voice shaky but his eyes determined when he met Kanda's gaze. "I won't, damn it, not while there's a shred of hope left."

Things were a little better after that, because most times when Lavi started to slide into a feverish nightmare vision, Kanda could bring him back out of it just by touching him and talking to him, giving him something real and solid to cling to. It made him remember what Lavi had said on the train, about needing him and the others to keep him human. Kanda couldn't help but wonder uneasily what would happen if something happened to him, Allen, Lenalee or Bookman. Would Lavi lose himself to Noah completely? Or would he just cling tighter to the ones who were left?

Kanda tried to nap in snatches, when Lavi was being particularly lucid. He ate at the same time he fed Lavi, or helped Lavi to feed himself if the other was feeling up to it. Finally the fever began to break, and Lavi's horrible nightmares subsided. Kanda sat watching after soothing Lavi out of the last one, as the other man's eyes slid closed and he fell into the first real, undisturbed sleep he'd had in a week.

Belatedly Kanda realized he was still stroking his fingers through Lavi's hair, _petting_ the man like an over-sized cat. He snatched his hand back, swearing silently at himself, grateful Lavi wasn't awake to see him blush. The gesture did seem to comfort Lavi in his delirium, but it never stopped embarrassing Kanda to do it. It felt too... intimate, too much like a caress instead of a comfort.

A jaw-cracking yawn caught him by surprise, and it felt like it nearly split his head open. Checking Lavi one last time, Kanda made sure he was indeed sleeping soundly, before he decided to follow the other man's example. He spread his bedroll over the floor next to the bed, stripped down and settled into it, and was asleep before his head hit the ground. It was the first real sleep he'd had in days.

The sound of hysterical screaming jerked him awake a few hours later, and Kanda flailed fruitlessly for a moment, trying to figure out where he was and what was going on. Normally he woke up quickly and ready for anything, but lack of sleep and emotional exhaustion left him groggy and confused.

The noise was coming from above him, sounding oddly muffled now. When he pushed himself up on one arm he saw Lavi curled up in the foetal position, arms wrapped tightly around him, screaming into the mattress. His eyes were closed, and his whole body shook hard enough to make the bed wobble.

"Lavi. Lavi! What the fuck?" Kanda demanded, scrambling to try to think through the haze of weariness. He managed to get himself untangled from his blankets and up onto the bed, kneeling next to the other man. He grabbed Lavi's shoulder and shook him, but it made no dent in the Noah's hysterics. "Lavi! Focus, damn it! What do you see?"

Perhaps it was Kanda's proximity, or the demand for information, but the screams turned to choked sobs as Lavi tried to answer him. "A-allen. Oh God, God, no. No, not like that, not like that."

"Lavi! It's just another damned vision from Noah, snap out of it!" Kanda insisted, his heart sinking. He'd been so sure Lavi was getting better, but this was even worse than before.

"No, it's... Tyki..." Lavi rasped, opening his eyes to stare wildly at Kanda. "Tyki's hunting him, and he's going to find him. He'll hunt him, and he'll hurt him, and he'll _tear his fucking heart out and leave him dying on the ground and..._ "

"Stop it!" Kanda grabbed him by both shoulders, and shook him hard enough that he heard Lavi's teeth snap together audibly. "Stop thinking about the details, and tell me the big picture. How far away is this? How likely?"

"It's going to happen," Lavi moaned, now huddling against Kanda and shivering. "It's going to happen, soon. Very soon."

"Can we get there in time to stop it?" Kanda asked, and Lavi nodded. "Then that's what we'll do. Come..."

Lavi stopped him from getting out of the bed with one hand locked around his wrist. "We can't," he croaked miserably, shaking harder. "We can't, Yuu."

"But you just said we could," Kanda protested, confused.

"No, we... we _mustn't_ ," Lavi whispered, obviously agonized. "If we save him now... we lose. All of it. The war, everything."

"What?" Kanda stared at him, wondering if he was listening to Noah talking, rather than Lavi. "How could losing Allen mean we _win_ the war?"

"It means we have a shot at winning," Lavi corrected him. He looked up at Kanda, his expression that of a cornered and desperate animal. "There's a chance, a tiny chance, that Allen will survive. If he does, something changes. I don't know what, something about his Innocence, I guess, but whatever it is, it makes the difference between us winning or losing this war. Without that..." His voice cracked with internal strain. "We have to let Allen be hurt, maybe die. We _have_ to."

Kanda sat there, stunned. Just stand back and allow Allen to be tortured and maybe killed, on the slim chance that he _might_ survive and have something useful happen to his Innocence? It went against all his instincts, everything he believed in. He wasn't sure he could do it, not when he _knew_ that he could prevent it if he just tried.

Apparently Lavi couldn't face the idea, either, because he moaned and released Kanda to bury his face in his hands. "I can't," he sobbed. "I can't do it, I can't watch this. It hurts too much, God, make it stop. Just make it stop hurting!"

To Kanda's astonishment, the other man drew a deep breath and slowly stopped shuddering, his sobs subsiding as well. A half-remembered comment Lavi had once made sent a chill whispering down Kanda's spine. _"My whole life I've been training to be objective... problem is, it also gives Noah an easy way in."_

He grabbed Lavi's wrists and pried the man's hands from his face. The dark skin and stigmata didn't even bother him anymore; after days of seeing no one but Lavi, he was so used to it that sometimes it gave him a shock to see his own pale, unmarked skin when he looked in the mirror. But when Lavi opened his eyes and looked at him, there was something alien in his gaze that made Kanda's instincts shriek at him. _Predator_. He'd seen that particular inhuman look before: from the Earl, and from the other Noah.

Reflexively he snatched up his Innocence from where he'd left it on the table by the bed, reacting to the sight of Noah looking at him out of Lavi's eyes. "Don't you dare," he snarled. "Damn it, Lavi! Don't you dare give in now!"

"It hurts too much," Lavi explained, his voice dead and flat. The last of his tears shone on his cheeks, completely at odds with his emotionless tone. "Such a useless thing, to grieve that way. The Bookmen have the right idea. Detachment is better. If you don't feel, then you can't hurt."

Dark energy snaked out over Kanda's body from where he touched Lavi, reaching towards his Innocence. Real panic hit Kanda then, as he realized Lavi was truly losing his fight against Noah. He tried to snatch Mugen out of reach of the dark energy, but unless he let go of Lavi he couldn't get away from it. If he let go, Lavi would be lost forever - Kanda was certain of it. Instead he brought the blade around to press against the Noah's throat, making him flinch, and the dark energy retreated. It didn't vanish completely, though, hovering menacingly like a weighted shadow in the air between them. Stalemate.

Kanda had to do something, something drastic, something that would remind Lavi that there were still things worth feeling, even if it meant hurting sometimes. Something that would remind him why he had to stay human, what he would lose if he didn't. Touching him and talking to him obviously weren't going to do it this time. Threatening him wasn't working either. What was left?

Looking into Lavi's golden eyes, Kanda remembered every time Lavi in his fever had clung to him, called out for him, pleaded with him not to leave. He remembered how the man had teased him and taunted him and nearly driven him mad, even before Lavi had awakened as a Noah. He remembered the way Lavi would blush sometimes after a vision, and the kiss they'd shared at Headquarters, and the real regret in Lavi's voice when he'd whispered his goodbye to Kanda before 'betraying' the Order.

Without letting himself think about what he was doing, Kanda leaned forward and kissed Lavi, putting everything he had into the embrace.


	15. Chapter 15

Vaguely Lavi was aware of Kanda's presence beside him, of the other man's worried voice and rough touch, but the reality of the present seemed distant and hard to reach. He'd been locked into a loop, forced to watch every possible outcome of the battle between Tyki and Allen, over and over again. The images were gruesome at best, and at worst... they made what Tyki had done to _him_ look like foreplay. Lavi wanted to retch at the horrible images, but nothing he could do would break the loop.

He couldn't see Tyki's actions directly, but the vast majority of futures now showed Allen lying broken and dying on the ground, his Innocence shattered and his heart crushed. Sometimes Lenalee would find him, and go mad with grief herself. Sometimes he just lay there until the animals got at him. In every vision, his blank, glassy eyes stared straight at Lavi, as if accusing him. _You could have stopped it_ , they seemed to say. _You knew it was coming. You could have saved me!_

And yet, and yet... when Kanda said something about going to save Allen, the visions impossibly became worse yet. Everything Noah had thrown at him in his delirium, and more... it all paraded before him, and he knew they couldn't save Allen if they hoped to save the world.

But how could he just turn away from a friend that way? Wouldn't that make him just as bad as the rest of the Noah? Foresight and everything Bookman had ever taught him said that leaving Allen to die was the necessary thing, even the _right_ thing to do. But his newly-woken heart, still so fragile within him, screamed against the very idea. Lavi didn't know what to do, couldn't decide between one side of himself and the other, and it was tearing him apart.

Literally.

He could feel the rage of Noah surging up inside him. Feel anger and loathing of his fellow humans, of God, for putting him in this hellish position in the first place. No one should have to endure this. No one should have to be alone, trying to make a decision that would decide the fate of all humanity.

Lavi tried to fight it, tried to cling to the discipline and objectivity he'd learned as a Bookman, to convince himself that he was making the right choice. Unfortunately that proved to be a mistake, because the moment he cut himself off from the emotions clouding his judgement, he also cut himself off from the ties and bonds he'd surrounded himself with to help block Noah from his heart.

It was as if a switch had been flipped, and suddenly everything was clear again. Noah stopped screaming in his head, and the pain and agony of grief drained away and left him feeling as light as a feather. It was all so _obvious_ , he couldn't believe he'd ever misunderstood. Noah hadn't been trying to take him over, Noah had been trying to _help_ him, and growing angry with frustration at his continued denial. He was still right here, still himself - but better. Protected, sheltered, free from the suffering of the common human masses.

He looked up when Kanda pried his hands from his face, and nearly laughed. The Exorcist looked so worried, almost frightened, like he'd seen a ghost. And yet if he realized he was showing his concern so openly, he'd be disgusted and shut it away immediately, as if caring about one of his comrades made him weak.

Well, it did, because it opened him to pain. With Noah's help, he could take that pain away from Kanda, too, and give him the peace he deserved. Dark fire flared up from his soul, reaching hungrily for the Innocence he could sense through his physical connection to the Exorcist. He would take it away, and make sure Kanda never had to suffer again. For everything Kanda had meant to him, he owed the man that much.

Kanda, however, didn't appear to appreciate the sentiment. Searing pain etched its way along his throat as Mugen was laid against his skin, the warning clear despite the uncertainty and hesitation in Kanda's eyes. He pulled the dark fire back, clutching it close to him like a protective shield, and debated what to do next. Kanda could kill him too easily like this. He had to search the future, bide his time and wait until the perfect moment to strike. It all depended on what Kanda would do next...

He opened his mind to the immediate future, and was staggered by the vision he received. A moment later he had to deal with the reality as well, as Kanda leaned forward and kissed him fiercely. Eyes wide, he went rigid, not daring to move for fear of cutting his own throat on Mugen's sharp edge, torn between an instinct to flee and a desire to respond.

Desire won out in the end, and his eyes slid closed as he melted against Kanda. They kissed passionately, desperation underlying every moment of contact. Lavi forgot himself enough to reach up and clutch at Kanda's shoulders, trying to use the man as an anchor to hold himself in reality. The vision of Allen and all the pain that went with it was back, the shock of the kiss shaking him from Noah's hold - but to get rid of the pain again, he'd have to give up _this_ , and Lavi didn't want that at all. No matter how much his Noah self might wish he did.

When they finally came up for air, Mugen still rested threateningly against Lavi's throat, but Kanda was clutching at him just as hard in return. "Well, that's... one way of fighting him off I hadn't tried," Lavi gasped, feeling dazed and disoriented by the sudden string of shocks and reversals. "Yuu, I..."

"Shut up," Kanda snarled, twisting the sword until the flat of the blade rested hard against Lavi's Adam's apple. He could apply more pressure that way without cutting Lavi, but the threat was no less immediate. "Didn't you promise me just days ago that you wouldn't give up so long as there was a shred of hope? You said there's a chance that Allen will survive, and be stronger for it. That sounds like hope to me. Does your word mean so little, or are you just that weak?"

"Oh, God, Allen," Lavi moaned, and the vision threatened to sweep him away again. He had to fight off the instinctive urge to distance himself, knowing it would only lead him right back to where he had been before Kanda had kissed him. He tugged Kanda towards him, lifting his face and begging shamelessly. "Please, Yuu, God. Help me. Make me stop seeing it, make it stop hurting, help me!"

And, a little to his surprise, Kanda did. The other man kissed him again, a forceful, almost violent embrace that might have been a little worrying except that Lavi knew it was fear that caused the fierceness, not rage. Fear for Allen, fear for him, fear for the whole damned world.

But Lavi wanted to forget about the fear and pain for a while, so he threw himself into the kiss despite the roughness. He pushed against Kanda, grateful they were both already stripped to their drawers, because the electric touch of flesh against flesh made it easier to distract himself. He did wince slightly when the motion caused Mugen to press harder against him, but he welcomed the touch of the Innocence as another anchor to the present.

Kanda must have felt the wince, however, because he made an irritated noise and started to withdraw his Innocence. Lavi wrapped his hand over Kanda's on the hilt and stopped him, breaking away from the kiss to look up into Kanda's eyes. "Don't," he pleaded. "Leave it. You won't cut me with the flat, and it helps."

"Doesn't it hurt you?" Kanda asked, frowning. Lavi nodded, careful not to cut himself in the process.

"Yeah. That's the point. It's happening to _me_ , right _now_." Seeing that Kanda was prepared to object further, Lavi decided to pre-empt him with another kiss. He wanted to be distracted, not to get into a discussion of how his powers worked.

Tugging on Kanda's shoulders, Lavi urged him down until they were lying sprawled together on the bed, Kanda half-pinning him to the mattress. The other man's long hair was loose for once, sliding over both their bodies like a silky caress. Lavi shivered as it brushed over him, making a startled noise of pleasure in the back of his throat. He closed his eyes, giving himself up to sensation and not allowing himself to think about anything else.

Something about the situation tugged on Lavi's subconscious, insisting that it felt familiar, but he pushed that away as well. It was easy enough to lose himself in Kanda's embrace. The other Exorcist was far from being an expert kisser, but he kissed the same way he lived his life; intense, direct, and not letting anything distract him.

However, Kanda didn't seem inclined to go any further than just kissing, so Lavi took matters into his own hands. He trailed his fingers down over Kanda's bare torso, tracing over the lines of old scars and more recent wounds, pausing to tease anywhere that made Kanda moan or shudder. He hit the jackpot when he scraped his nails over one of Kanda's taut nipples. The other man gave a muffled cry and bit Lavi's lip in retaliation, the kiss growing fiercer still. The bizarre combination of pain/pleasure/pain made Lavi dizzy, and he revelled in it.

They broke apart for air again, gasping. Kanda ground his hips down against Lavi, and not even an innocent could have mistaken the meaning of the hard bulge straining the fabric of his drawers. Lavi was far from being an innocent. He made an eager noise and rocked his hips up in return, pushing his own hard cock up against Kanda's hip. He tilted his head back and Kanda took the hint, scraping his teeth against the sensitive skin of Lavi's throat, just above the burn of Mugen's blade.

"What do you want?" Kanda growled against his skin. "What do you need, Lavi?"

"You," Lavi replied instantly, not even thinking about what he was saying. "I need you. God, I've wanted this so bad since I first foresaw it... even before then, maybe." He reached up and twined his arms around Kanda's neck, tugging the other man down until Lavi could nuzzle into his throat, inhaling the clean scent of soap that lingered in Kanda's hair. "Fuck me, Yuu," he pleaded softly. "Make me feel human... make me _feel_."

Kanda grunted, and to Lavi's dismay he pulled back slightly and shook his head. "No. Shut up," he added when Lavi opened his mouth to protest. "You're still injured, and the last thing you need is to re-break your ribs and puncture a lung or something. I said, shut up."

Lavi huffed a soft laugh and gave up trying to argue. Perhaps as a reward, he felt Kanda reach down and undo the ties to his drawers. As long as the other man wasn't going to just _stop_ , he didn't really care how far they actually got.

He lifted his hips to help Kanda get the last of his clothes off, moaning as the motion pressed him against Kanda's body and Mugen's blade. He could sense Noah raging in the back of his mind, but the presence of the Innocence was keeping him well at bay, much to Lavi's relief.

Kanda removed his own smallclothes as well, leaving them bare against each other for the first time. Lavi threw his head back and moaned as their cocks rubbed together, every other thought flying right out of his mind. In that moment there was nothing in his world except Kanda, exactly as he'd wanted.

They ground together again, and this time Kanda moaned too. It was intense, and part of Lavi thought maybe he should argue a little harder to get Kanda to fuck him. The majority of him was too busy enjoying what he was getting to worry about demanding more.

Kanda had raised himself up on his forearms, shifting so they were properly aligned. Lavi dared to reach between them with one hand, curling his fingers around both their cocks and giving them something better to push against. Kanda leaned down to nip and lick at Lavi's throat again, tongue tracing the faint cuts Mugen had made before he'd turned the blade.

"If you... ever again..." Kanda said between gritted teeth, his voice strained with grief as much as desire. "I swear I _will_ kill you myself."

Lavi made a choked noise as memory hit him, and he laughed before he could stop himself. Kanda stopped moving above him, glaring down at him furiously. "What the hell is _funny_ about this?" the other man snarled, as Lavi continued to snicker.

"I'm... sorry," Lavi gasped, aware that his laughter was verging on hysterical but unable to stop. "It's... this! My vision, the one about us that I kept having... this is it, right now. The sex, what you just said, even the sword at my throat... I always wondered about that."

Kanda's eyes narrowed, but Lavi thought he saw a brief glint of amusement in them as the other man snorted. "You didn't mention the part about the sword. You're twisted, you know that?"

He thrust again before Lavi could reply, and the only answer Lavi could make then was a long, drawn out moan.

Slick flesh slid together, sweat easing the friction. Lavi arched up into every thrust, his breath coming short as his body tensed, pleasure spiralling up out of his control. He didn't want to come, didn't want this to be over. He wished his powers would let him freeze this moment, and just live in it forever, sheltered and comforted by Kanda's arms, and forced to feel alive and _human_ by the feel of Kanda's strong body against his.

He fought orgasm with everything he had, shaking so hard beneath Kanda that he cut himself again on Mugen's edge. Perversely, the sharp sting of the Innocence served as the last straw to push him over the edge, and he came screaming Kanda's name.

Kanda slowed his motions, rocking his hips against Lavi's instead of thrusting. He was still hard, and the look on his face was one of fierce concentration and control. "Yuu?" Lavi asked once he had a bit of his breath back, confused. "What are you... aren't you going to...?"

"I'm supposed to be distracting you, right?" Kanda growled. For once the edge in his voice wasn't due to anger or irritation. The low, husky snarl went straight to Lavi's groin, and he decided then and there that he wanted to hear that tone again as often as possible.

"Y-yeah, but..." Lavi broke off with a moan as Kanda rocked a little harder, rubbing against his still sensitive cock. Damned if he wasn't starting to get hard again. "That doesn't mean you can't..."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up, already?" Kanda said, and pulled out of Lavi's hold completely. Lavi cried out, reaching after him, but Kanda caught his wrist in a firm grip and refused to let go.

Releasing Mugen freed Kanda's other hand, and he caught Lavi's other wrist as well. The Innocence remained balanced against Lavi's throat, wedged against a pillow on one side to help keep it in place. Lavi found himself trapped, unable to fight the hold on his wrists without risking another cut to the throat, or worse.

"You spent months taunting and teasing me, driving me out of my mind," Kanda said, the growl deeper still. "Always two steps ahead of me, always in control, always making me dance to your tune. Maybe you did need to do it to keep your cover. I don't care. I've finally got you right where I wanted you all that time - helpless."

A tiny part of Lavi quailed in fear, gibbering that this was a trap and Kanda had just wanted to catch him off guard. Lavi firmly told that part of him to go to hell, where it could keep Noah company for all he cared. He trusted Kanda, maybe more than he'd ever trusted anyone before, even Bookman.

Besides, the look on the other man's face as he stretched up and pinned Lavi's wrists to the headboard was fucking _hot_.

"Leave them there," Kanda ordered, and released his hands. "Or else."

Lavi resisted the urge to check the future to see what the 'or else' might be. Just this once, he thought he'd rather find out what was coming the normal way. The present was holding far too much of his attention for him to care much about the future at the moment.

He arched up, startled, as Kanda trailed his mouth down over Lavi's chest. Kanda bit at Lavi's nipples, used his tongue to soothe the last of the deep bruises still marring Lavi's skin, and continued downward. It was all Lavi could do to keep his hands in place on the headboard when Kanda wrapped his lips around Lavi's cock; he wanted so badly to bury them in the other man's hair it hurt to stay still. He certainly didn't manage to keep himself quiet, moans and whimpers spilling from his throat without any consent from him.

He'd already been halfway hard again, but the warm, wet feel of Kanda's mouth had him completely at attention in moments. Lavi fought the instinct to thrust, not wanting to choke Kanda. "Yuu," he groaned, unable to keep quiet. "Oh fuck, God, Yuu..."

"You really can't keep your mouth shut for more than five minutes at a time, can you?" Kanda pulled back long enough to say, the momentary pause making Lavi cry out and buck his hips. That made Kanda look smug, and he smirked at Lavi before returning to what he'd been doing.

Once again pleasure built and built within Lavi, but thanks to his earlier orgasm it wasn't going to explode as quickly. That meant it just continued to coil tighter, pressure rising until Lavi seriously thought he might die of it. All thoughts of prolonging the encounter had fled from him shortly after Kanda had taken him into his mouth. Now all Lavi could think about was the need for release, or the pressure would surely break something inside him.

He didn't realize he'd moved his hands until he felt the silky strands of hair running through his fingers. Lavi shuddered as the motion of his hands through Kanda's hair made the strands slide and shift over the bare skin of his hips. He was unbearably sensitive after the first orgasm, and made more so by the build up to the second; the feathery touches threatened to drive him completely out of his mind.

Then Kanda wrapped one hand around the base of his cock and clamped down, hard, before lifting his head. Lavi cried out at the sudden loss of stimulation coupled with the pressure on his cock. "I told you not to move your hands, damn it," Kanda snapped, surging up over Lavi's body to kiss him ruthlessly. It was definitely more of a punishment than a pleasure, though Lavi still enjoyed it thoroughly. He made an eager noise and kissed back, hoping to make amends for unintentionally disobeying.

Kanda was stroking him now, swift, hard strokes that sent him racing towards the edge. Lavi shuddered and writhed, oversensitive but too desperate for the orgasm to beg Kanda to stop. Not that he really wanted the other man to stop, nor even to slow down, not when what he needed so badly was right... there...

Lavi had thought he'd screamed the first time. Now he knew that he'd only shouted; _this_ time he screamed, the sound high and primal, tearing his throat raw. He was beyond caring, so caught up in the pleasure he literally couldn't think about anything else.

He lay there panting and trying to catch his breath afterwards for long moments, struggling to make his eyes focus or his body move. When he was finally able to see again, he found Kanda stretched out on the bed beside him, watching him steadily. It was obvious that Kanda hadn't taken his own pleasure, his body so tense that he was practically vibrating.

"Why..." Lavi's voice came out as an unintelligible croak, and he had to swallow a couple of times and try again. "Why didn't you come?"

It didn't make any sense. Kanda obviously wanted it, his body language telegraphed that as loudly as Lavi had been screaming a moment before. "I told you," Kanda said, the edge in his voice as sharp as Mugen's blade. "This is payback. You're the one who's going to do what I want, this time. And since I can't seem to get you to shut up any other way..."

Lavi saw where this was going, and objecting was the last thing on his mind. Suddenly there was nothing he wanted more than to know what the taste and feel of Kanda in his mouth would be like. He pushed Mugen away from him at last, sliding down on the bed until he was braced over Kanda's body, leaning with his arms on either side of Kanda's hips. Kanda made a startled noise, but Lavi just grinned before he lowered his head and ran his tongue along the rock-hard shaft.

His reward was a strangled moan and the way Kanda's hips jerked beneath him, as if the other man was fighting to stay still and failing. Fingers wound through his hair and tightened, strong hands holding him in place.

"You just have to stay one step ahead of me, don't you?" Kanda growled, but the breathy gasp he ended the sentence on ruined the intimidating effect he was going for.

Lavi chuckled, which made Kanda cry out and arch his back. He matched his pace to whatever made Kanda moan the loudest, wrapping his lips around the other man's cock and doing his best to swallow him whole. His still-healing ribs screamed a protest, but Lavi ignored them. After getting him off _twice_ , Kanda had to be right on the edge. This wouldn't take long.

Sure enough, after just a few minutes he felt Kanda's cock twitch in his mouth, and the other man gave a strangled shout that might have been intended to be a warning. Hot, bitter fluid pulsed into Lavi's mouth, and he did his best to swallow all of it, licking and nibbling lightly at the skin of Kanda's cock to coax out every last drop.

Only when Kanda was shuddering beneath him and starting to soften did Lavi allow himself to come up for air. He crawled back up the bed and collapsed next to Kanda, burying his face in the other man's shoulder and willing himself not to think about anything but how good he felt at that moment.

Kanda seemed inclined to do the same, or at least to let Lavi be. He shifted enough to get comfortable, and pulled the sheet over both of them, giving tacit permission for Lavi to stay. That was good; Lavi had been half afraid that Kanda would pull away as soon as they were finished. He'd never pictured Kanda as the cuddling type - and he wasn't, exactly. He hadn't wrapped himself around Lavi or anything like that. He was just letting Lavi stay close, holding onto the moment of intimacy they'd created between them.

Finally, though, Kanda sighed and broke the spell. "Well?"

Without thinking, Lavi reached out with his powers to check the future. His brain caught up with his instincts a moment later, and he braced himself, expecting to get locked into another onslaught of disturbing images.

To his incredible relief, however, he didn't get any gruesome flashes of Allen dying in the forest. "It's over," he gasped, relaxing against Kanda's side. He hadn't realized just how tense he was until he did that, muscles in his back and shoulders unlocking painfully. "Allen survived. I think... yeah, the Asian branch of the Order picked him up."

"Then, we're going to win?" Kanda's voice held uncharacteristic hope. "Allen will do whatever it is he's going to do?"

It hurt Lavi to have to shatter that hope. "It's not certain. The majority of futures now show him living out what's left of the war as a civilian - I think Tyki got his Innocence." His brow furrowed. "Except there are still some futures where he's an Exorcist so... I don't know what the fuck."

Kanda shook his head. "It's out of our hands. And you?"

"I..." Lavi took stock of himself. Noah was grumbling in the back of his head, but no louder than usual. Without the soul-wrenching internal conflict caused by Allen's near-death, Noah once again had no hold over him. "I'm okay. For now," he added darkly. "Yuu..."

"It will happen again," Kanda said, and he didn't sound surprised. Lavi nodded miserably, unable to deny it. If Noah could take him over once, he could do it again. His mental stability rested on a fragile support made of the well-being of his friends, and as he'd just proven, any threat to that support could send him tumbling into the abyss. And next time, Kanda probably wouldn't be around to shock him out of it.

Unless... "Stay with me," Lavi whispered, curling tighter against Kanda's side. "Yuu, please. I need you. I think this was the only thing that could have saved me."

"Hmph." Kanda snorted. "If you think you're getting rid of me now, you'd better think again. I promised you and the Order that I would take care of it if you lost to Noah, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did," Lavi agreed, relieved beyond words. Another thought occurred to him, and he frowned. "Uh... Yuu? I, uh..." Damn it, how the hell could he ask this? "Did you... _want_ to do this?"

"What, do you think I nobly sacrificed myself to your needs?" Kanda asked, scathing.

Despite himself, Lavi chuckled. "Well, when you put it that way."

"I... won't say I never thought about this," Kanda said, not meeting his eyes. He sounded angry, but it wasn't hard for Lavi to realize it was a cover for embarrassment. "Even when I hated you most for betraying me, I couldn't forget that fucking vision of yours."

"Me, neither," Lavi admitted, turning his head so he could inhale the clean scent of Kanda's hair. "I guess it came true, after all."

He didn't mention that he'd never had any vision of them together _other_ than that one. He prayed it was because he'd just become fixated on that moment, or because this time was the most important. He could have checked the future, to see if there were any new visions of the two of them, but he refused to let himself even peek. If he'd only seen it happening this once because it would never happen again... that was one thing Lavi definitely didn't want to know about ahead of time.


	16. Chapter 16

The echo of a scream woke Lavi abruptly from a restless sleep, and he flailed. His mind was still caught half in dreams, half in visions, and he couldn't seem to find his way to the present. Where was he? What was he doing? What the fuck was going on?

A hand grabbed him by the shoulder, hard, and shook him. "Lavi. Lavi!" Kanda's voice intruded on the visions. The voice and grip gave him an anchor to fix on, something to help lead him back to the present. He gasped as the world around him snapped into focus, and he knew he was back where he belonged.

Had the scream been a dream or vision? Or had it actually happened here and now? It must have, or why would Kanda be shaking him awake? "What the fuck?" he demanded, staring around wildly, looking for the threat. The banked fire in the middle of the clearing where they'd made camp sent up a few sparks as if in answer, but otherwise there was only the crickets chirping beyond the little circle of dim light that enclosed them.

"That's what I want to know," Kanda replied sourly. "You started moaning in your sleep, and then screamed Lenalee's name." He looked like he was trying to cover worry with anger, and failing. "It's the same thing you did when you had that vision about Allen. Is Tyki going after her, next?"

Bracing himself, Lavi reached for the future and was immediately swept up in a swirl of visions centred on Lenalee. "No... not quite," he said grimly. "The ship they're on, Lenalee and Bookman and some others, it's going to be attacked by a third level." His voice shook despite his best efforts to keep it steady, and when he wiped a hand across his forehead it came away covered in sweat. In the best possible outcome he could see, Lenalee would burn out her Innocence saving the others, and be a helpless civilian for the rest of her very short life. In the worst...

Kanda swore viciously. "And I suppose you're going to tell me we can't do anything about _this_ , either. What, does Lenalee become the next Grand General if she survives, or something?"

Lavi had to swallow hard before he could speak again. He wrenched himself away from the visions, clutching at Kanda with one hand to help hold himself in the present. "No, this we can do something about... if we can _get_ there in time." He shook his head. "They're on a ship halfway between China and Japan. This is going to happen soon, tonight."

"Damn it!" Kanda pounded the ground beneath their bedroll with one fist. Then he frowned. "But Allen must have been nearly as far away, and you said we'd have been able to reach him in time to save him. It didn't occur to me at the time, but how was _that_ possible?"

"Because I'm still a Noah whether I'm on the Earl's side or not, and as long as that's true, there are certain things I can do that he can't prevent," Lavi said quietly. "Such as accessing the Ark." When Kanda only stared at him blankly, he shrugged. "How did _you_ think the Noah manage to show up all over the damned place, whenever they want to? The Ark is connected to everything, everywhere."

"Then why the hell have we been _walking_ across Asia to catch up with Tiedoll and the others?" Kanda demanded, put out. "With you hardly well enough to travel in the first place?"

Lavi gave him a scornful look. " _Think_ for a minute, Yuu! The Earl _knows_ I can do this. He can't stop me, but he can sure as fuck make it as difficult as possible. He'll have booby traps and ambushes set up all over the damned place, and I can't see inside the Ark from outside it. It won't be as simple as just waltzing in and waltzing right back out again."

"Oh." Kanda blinked, and looked a bit shamed. "That makes sense. But..."

"But to save Allen, or Lenalee, it would be worth the risk," Lavi finished quietly. "At least, _I_ think so, but we already know what will happen if I do something like try to ignore Lenalee's danger for the sake of protecting my own hide." It would send him right back into the kind of moral conflict that had caused him to fall to Noah three days before, and there was no _guarantee_ that Kanda would be able to shock him out of it again. The same tactic might not necessarily work a second time.

"Well, I'm certainly not going to vote that we sit around here having tea while there are Exorcists in danger," Kanda said. "Let's go. What do we have to do?"

Lavi tried not to let his relief show _too_ much. He hadn't really expected Kanda to argue against going, but there was always the possibility. As he had learned the hard way since gaining his powers, there was always a possibility for just about _anything_ to happen - and, bizarrely enough, it was often the least likely futures that were the ones that ended up happening.

"Well, first we break camp," he said, finally releasing his hold on Kanda. "Then we put up a great big 'Here I am, kill me now!' sign on our backs, and head off." Kanda snorted.

Lavi sat up and pushed the blankets aside, reaching for his boots. He was still mostly dressed; they were both too tired after days of hard travelling to do anything but fall asleep when they finally made camp, and anyway neither of them was green enough to make the mistake of being caught vulnerable in the middle of the night if an enemy attacked. Lavi counted himself lucky that Kanda hadn't objected to Lavi curling up right next to him when they slept, and in fact had even unbent enough to sometimes reach for Lavi first.

"Why are you getting so little warning of these things?" Kanda wanted to know as he slipped into his uniform jacket and strapped on his belts. "First Allen, now Lenalee; you've had less than an hour's warning. You knew about the danger to Suman and other things days in advance, sometimes weeks."

"I dunno, and it worries me," Lavi admitted grimly. He pulled his Innocence from its holder and activated it, and was glad to see Kanda do the same. Better to be prepared now than to have to waste precious seconds when they were under attack. "I think maybe the Earl is working to block me somehow, now that he knows what I'm capable of."

"Great. That's just what I wanted to hear," Kanda said sourly. "I'm ready if you are."

Lavi nodded, and hauled his bag over his shoulder. "All right. Grab my left arm, and hang on tight." When he was certain Kanda had a firm grip on him, Lavi took a deep breath and stepped sideways out of reality.

It was a very odd sensation, and he'd never become used to it no matter how many times he'd done it. It felt like somehow being perpendicular to _everything_ , like a stick figure on a flat paper who had stood up and discovered the third dimension.

When the world righted itself again, they were standing in a circular room full of books. _Lots_ of books, enough to put most libraries to shame. The shelves ran all the way up to the ceiling, and that was a good three stories high. Every inch of space was crammed with books, scrolls, tablets, and anything else that could be written on.

Lavi had quite frankly expected to be attacked the moment they appeared, and every muscle in his body was tense as he quickly scanned the room. Everything was just as he had left it, not so much as a single sheet of paper out of place. When nothing jumped out at them after a long minute, he relaxed marginally. "Huh," he said, surprised. "That's weird. No ambush, no traps, and they didn't even trash the place."

Standing a foot away with his own Innocence raised, Kanda was looking around with an expression of mingled wariness and curiosity. "What is this?"

"My room, of course," Lavi said. "What else would a former Bookman do with a room completely under his control, but create a library of every history ever written?" He sighed wistfully as he looked around again. "If there's one thing I really do regret about being exposed as a spy, it's losing access to this room. There are parts of history that aren't in our records - the Bookman is only one man, and he can't be in two places at once. I could've filled in all the gaps, from here."

Kanda glared at him briefly. "Don't get too sentimental over it," the Exorcist said. "I might start to wonder if you're tempted to change your alliance after all."

"Oh, it wouldn't be worth changing sides for real," Lavi replied with forced cheerfulness. "Not _quite_ , anyway."

There was something _wrong_ , something that nagged at him subconsciously and refused to allow him to lower his guard. Something more than just the lack of anticipated traps and enemies. It skittered over his nerves like an itch he couldn't scratch, and it was threatening to drive him nuts. The air seemed to tremble around him, as if with anticipation, yet there was a strangely fragile feeling to everything. It was as if his instincts were trying to tell him the whole place would shatter and blow away into nothing if he put one foot down wrong.

"Let's get out of here. The sooner we're gone, the happier I'll be." Unfortunately, he couldn't just step sideways and leave the same way he'd come in. He didn't have the same level of control as Road or the Earl, and couldn't create a doorway that would go anywhere he wanted it to.

He paused with his hand on the door, checking the path ahead. "Aha, there they are," he said drily. At least a dozen second level Akuma waited just outside his door. They knew he was there somehow - sensed the sudden presence of a Noah nearby, likely. They were all standing tense and alert, ready to spring their trap the moment he opened the door. He wondered why they hadn't been waiting inside the library.

"Guess they couldn't get into my room without me here," he finally decided. It was _his_ space, after all, and the Ark didn't care whose side he was on. The Earl could probably override that, and maybe Road, but they surely had better things to do. He gave Kanda a wide grin and tapped the shaft of his hammer against his palm. "Ready to run the gauntlet, Yuu?"

Kanda gave him a grim smile in return, and tightened his grip on Mugen. "Bring it on."

Lavi whooped and kicked the door open hard enough to break the hinges and send it crashing into the nearest Akuma. "Hi ban!"

The flame snake roared down the hallway, and Akuma exploded in its wake. Some were smart enough to duck out of the way, only to have the Hell's Insects chew through them a moment later.

Lavi and Kanda raced down the hall at full tilt. More Akuma appeared at every intersection, and when they burst through the door to the 'outside', they found a swarm hovering over the empty city. As one they sent their respective second level attacks towards the hoard, the Insects and flame entwining in a deadly dance.

A sense of power rushed through Lavi, and he laughed as he gleefully sent his Innocence towards the next cluster of Akuma. Whatever else Kanda might have thought of him before he'd awakened, Lavi and Kanda had always made a powerfully destructive fighting combo. With Lavi's new ability to predict surprise attacks and anticipate the enemy's tactics, they were damned near invincible.

Still more Akuma poured into the area. Lavi wondered if every second level the Earl had was here. If so, the bastard had made a _huge_ tactical error, because it still wasn't going to be enough to stop him. By the time Lavi and Kanda were done with them, there wouldn't be a single second level left.  
Something about that thought nagged at him through the heat of battle and the euphoric sense of inevitable victory. _Why_ had the Earl made such an obvious mistake? Why hadn't one of the other Noah come to direct the Akuma, or fight the Exorcists directly? For that matter, where hell were all the third levels?

Again the feeling of destructive glee surged through Lavi, trying to wash away his concerns, but this time he realized what was causing it. Noah had apparently decided to try subtlety, since brute force coercion wasn't working.

"It's a delaying tactic," he shouted at Kanda, furious with himself for falling for it even momentarily. "The Earl knows I can't use my power to find the right door if I'm busy using it to fight! He's trying to keep us away from the ship long enough to kill the others!"

"Then stop using it to fight, idiot," Kanda replied, as if it should have been obvious.

Lavi hesitated, because _not_ fighting while surrounded by Akuma ran counter to every instinct he had as an Exorcist. He met Kanda's eyes for a brief moment, and nodded. After everything they'd gone through, he couldn't _not_ trust Kanda to watch his back.

Summoning all his discipline as a Bookman, Lavi closed his eyes and willed himself to forget about the battle still raging around him. Futures where Kanda, Lavi, or both of them died because of his inattention tried to grab him, but Lavi shoved those aside too and focused on the present.

This aspect of his powers was the most difficult to invoke, and the least reliable. It was easy to focus on a specific event in history or place in the present and say 'show me that'. Slightly more difficult was peering into the future and saying 'show me what will happen'. But to focus on something as insubstantial as a need and say' show me what I want to find', that was something else again.

Lavi scanned the area, thinking hard about Lenalee and the ship he'd seen in his vision, and on his need to _be_ there. He kept being distracted by the movements of the Akuma, but after a moment he realized that his gaze was being drawn back to a particular street again and again.

"That way," he shouted, pointing. He waited a split second for the Hell's Insects to clear the path, then bolted in the indicated direction. The urge to check the immediate future for traps was almost overwhelming, but Lavi knew that if he lost his focus he might never get it back again.

At the first crossroads he had to stop and do it all over again. It was rather like trying to get directions by playing the children's game of 'hot and cold', and it was incredibly frustrating. Worse, there was a growing sense of urgency in the back of Lavi's mind that he had a sinking feeling was his foresight trying to warn him, but unable to show him an actual vision because he was busy looking at the present.

The sense of impending doom spiked sharply just as they rounded the next corner, so much so that Lavi lost the thread that was leading him to the right door. He cursed under his breath - then swore again loudly when he realized he didn't need it any more. The same third level from his vision was about to pass through one of the doorways.

"Hold it right there!" Lavi commanded in his most authoritative voice. He forced himself to reach out and connect with Noah to a limited extent, drawing on that power to reinforce his words. "That's an order."

The Akuma turned back to face him, and for one second Lavi thought it had actually worked.

Then the monster's skull-like face displayed what could only be called a smirk, and it held up its hands as though looking through them to frame a photograph. "Title: the turncoat has no power."

"Fine, then we'll do this the hard way," Lavi growled, swinging his hammer around and expanding it rapidly. "Hi ban!"

Flames exploded around the Akuma, but when Lavi checked the future he was dismayed to find there wasn't a single one where the Akuma was even damaged. Third levels varied in power considerably; the Earl had obviously picked one of his strongest for the assault on so many Exorcists. Small wonder there was a good chance Lenalee would die or be burned out forever.

The Akuma started to laugh, and Lavi swore again as it stepped out of the flames and vanished through the door. "Oh, no you don't," he snarled, and he plunged through the door after it.

Unfortunately it turned out to be not _quite_ the door he'd wanted. The Akuma could apparently fly; the fact that the door let out fifty feet in the air didn't bother it in the least. Lavi, on the other hand, found himself rapidly plummeting towards the ocean.

With a strangled yelp he rapidly extended his hammer. The head hit the deck with a resounding crash of splintering wood that made him wince. Well, at least it would alert the other Exorcists on the ship that something was wrong. Already he could hear shouts of alarm and warning bells ringing below.

His powers warned him, and he reached out to catch Kanda just as the other man came racing over the threshold. Kanda grunted and clutched at him when he realized how high up they were. "Watch it, that first step is a killer," Lavi said with a trace of his old battle humour.

"Idiot," Kanda retorted, and rolled his eyes. He grabbed the hammer shaft with one hand, and Lavi let go to allow him to slide down to the deck below. The Hell's Insects were already racing out towards the Akuma, but Lavi doubted they would have any more effect than his fire seal.

He didn't follow Kanda immediately; he wanted to be certain that the door to the Ark had closed behind Kanda and would _stay_ closed. The last thing they needed was for that horde of Akuma to come pouring through and make everything even more complicated. They wouldn't be able to open the door again once he'd closed it, thankfully. Only a Noah could do that, unless the Earl specifically granted an Akuma the ability.

Another flash of vision hit him, and he loosened his grip abruptly. He slid down the shaft and the deadly needles that had been aimed straight at him passed harmlessly over his head instead.

"Hey!" he yelled down at the rapidly approaching deck. "Watch where you're aiming, old panda." He ducked to avoid another attack. "Damn it, I'm on your side!"

"If you expect me to believe that..." Bookman started, his eyes narrowed. Lavi hit the deck and swung his hammer around, using his shoulder as a fulcrum to get that much more speed. Bookman threw up his hands and shouted when he saw the hammer heading straight towards him, but his words were drowned out by a sudden hail of fire from more Akuma hidden above the clouds. Lavi was sweating and chilled at the same time; he'd barely managed to expand the hammer head in time to protect Bookman and the others.

"Argue later, fight now," he ordered Bookman, who was still eyeing him suspiciously. "You and Lenalee help Kanda with the third level - Lenalee, no matter _what_ , don't follow it out over the water or high into the air above the boat. Understand?" She nodded, wide-eyed, and he smiled grimly at her. "Krory, you and I are gonna take care of the ones above the clouds, as soon as I move things so we can see 'em."

Krory hesitated for a split second, but another hail of fire seemed to decide him. His face changed from his normal, gentle expression, to one of fierce aggression. "Just tell me what to do," he said, his voice a low growl. "I'm thirsty."

Lavi nodded and turned to shout at the crowd of strangers who had to be the ship's crew. "You lot, man your stations. Keep this ship moving forward!" They shouted assent and scrambled to obey. Lavi struggled not to feel guilty, knowing he'd just sent most of them to their deaths. If he didn't do what he had to, they would _all_ die.

As if in confirmation of his thoughts, almost immediately two of the men were struck by the fire from the hidden Akuma. They fell to the deck, screaming. The giant wheel that hung over the main mast spun slowly, and Lavi winced as he felt the power of Innocence sweep over the ship. To his shock the two men got back to their feet, and even the damage done to the ship seemed to reassemble itself like magic.

Lavi stared, floored. Had an Exorcist with the ability to cure the Akuma virus been found? If so, it was a _huge_ stride forward for the Order.

But every future he could see for those two men showed them dying within the next day at most. Not a cure, then; just a temporary delay. Still, if it kept them at their posts for the duration of the fight, Lavi would thank his lucky stars and mourn them later.

"Boy! Are you here to fight, or woolgather?" Bookman barked, and Lavi remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

"Brace yourself, Kro-chan," he shouted, and formed the ring of second level seals around him. The wood seal was one that he rarely used. Its effect was limited, though very, very powerful when he put it to the right use. Like right now. "Tenchi Bankai!"

A shaft of light speared into the heavens from around his hammer, straight into the clouds. They swirled sluggishly around the beam as if the hand of god had reached down and stirred them, and then they began to disperse.

"Now!" Lavi called, as he caught sight of tiny winking lights far above them that were reflected moonlight on the Akuma's metal skins. "Go, Kro-chan!"

Krory leapt into the air, and Lavi swung his hammer up after the other Exorcist. He expanded the shaft as fast as it would go, and Krory was able to use its momentum to push himself far higher than he would have been able to reach on his own.

Satisfied that those three were taken care of, Lavi turned to join in the fight with the others. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be going well. There had been a slim possibility that Kanda would be able to finish the thing quickly, but this third level was far more powerful than the one Lavi had brought to Barcelona. It resisted all of their attacks, laughing as it either dodged or shook them off like mere irritations.

Worse, both Kanda and Lenalee were moving sluggishly. When Lavi looked closer he saw what looked like glowing chains wrapped around Mugen and the Dark Boots. Kanda was battered and bleeding from a corner of his mouth, but as grimly determined as ever. Lenalee and Bookman oddly didn't seem to be injured at all. Lenalee was still valiantly struggling to attack, though the dance of her Innocence was both less graceful and less deadly than usual.

Even as Lavi watched the monster lashed out and caught Lenalee hard across the chest, sending her flying backward to crash into the mast. She choked and coughed up blood, stunned. Lavi cursed and rushed to help her, but before he could reach her several miniature versions of the giant wheel formed over her body, spinning in place. Her injuries vanished, and she straightened as if she'd never been hurt at all.

"I'm fine, help Kanda," Lenalee waved him off when she saw him coming, and plunged back into the fray.

"I don't need any help," Kanda growled, outraged at the implication. Whatever was healing the ship and crew, it definitely wasn't extending to him. "Nigentou!"

The second 'blade' of ghostly energy formed in his off hand, and Lavi swung his hammer around to the ready position. "Let's beat this bastard," he said, gleeful. There were still futures showing the Akuma winning, but there were now nearly as many where the Exorcists won.

"As if we needed you to tell us that," Kanda said with a sniff of disdain. He charged in after Lenalee, both swords swinging and connecting hard with the Akuma's side.

He staggered it, and Lenalee quickly followed it up with a blow that sent it toppling over onto its side. Bookman seized his chance. "North crime!" he shouted, flicking his fingers at the Akuma.

A deadly rain of needles fell on the monster, and it screamed as they penetrated its tough armour. In moments it looked like a quivering ball of spiked iron, without a single sign of the Akuma visible.

"We did it!" Lenalee cried, and the crew began to cheer raggedly.

Lavi checked the future again, and frowned. There were now _more_ futures that showed the Akuma winning, not less. The key seemed to be how quickly they acted on their advantage. Bookman would try to question it, but there wasn't time for Lavi to warn him.

Bringing his hammer up, he activated the ring of seals once more. He would kill it now before it had a chance to shake off the attack. Bookman could argue with him later about the lost opportunity to gather information. "Gou _mmph_!"

He was cut off by a hand covering his mouth, and another grabbed his wrist and stopped him from hitting the seal. An arm was placed strategically over his throat, cutting off his air, and Lavi's immediate attempt to struggle got him nowhere. His assailant had all the leverage.

"Oh, I think not, _little brother_ ," a low voice purred into his ear. Lavi froze, his blood running cold. He knew that voice. He rolled his eyes as far to the side as he could, and Tyki obliged him by leaning over Lavi's shoulder until he was visible.

Panicked, Lavi struggled with everything in him to move his hammer, but Tyki was stronger than he was. "Apparently you didn't learn your lesson from our last little discussion," Tyki said, his shark's grin spread over his face. "Shall we go over it again?"


	17. Chapter 17

"Lavi!" The cry of horror came from Kanda and Lenalee on the same breath, and Lavi was hit by a vision of what would happen if they turned from the Akuma to try to rescue him. It was potentially even worse than the original vision of Lenalee's death that had sent him here in the first place. He _had_ to keep them focused on it, or the only thing he would have accomplished was to bring Kanda here to die as well.

The Bookmen might not normally get involved in the fights they observed, but Lavi hadn't lived his whole life on the battlefield without learning a few dirty tricks. Tyki had made a mistake by getting close enough for Lavi to retaliate. He dug his thumbnail into the soft flesh between tendons on Tyki's wrist, searching for the nerve cluster there.

"Ow!" Tyki exclaimed, and jerked his hand away. That freed Lavi's mouth and took the pressure off his throat. He coughed and drew a deep breath.

"Kill the Akuma!" he shouted at the others, trying to put confidence into his voice that he didn't feel. "I'll handle Tyki!" He slammed his foot back, aiming not for the crotch or instep, which Tyki might have expected, but for the kneecap. He didn't connect solidly, but even a glancing blow was more than enough to make Tyki curse in pain and release him completely, stepping back to dissolve into the wood of the cabin. Lavi didn't bother spinning to face where the other Noah had been, knowing Tyki would emerge from a totally different direction.

Unfortunately his warning had come a little too late. The third level had shaken off Bookman's cocoon of needles, a bit dented now but not much the worse for wear. Kanda and Lenalee's moment of inattention allowed it to strike them both from behind. Lavi bit off a cry as he saw them both hit the deck hard. There was still a chance they would recover and win, but not if Tyki got at them. Lavi needed to focus on Tyki as the greater threat, not help them with the Akuma. With an effort he turned his back on the Exorcists and waited for the other Noah to make his move.

"You think you can handle me, do you?" Tyki taunted him, his voice coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. "I think you're getting a bit ahead of yourself."

Sweating hard, Lavi did his best to ignore the continued sounds of battle and cries of pain from the others. Where would Tyki appear next? Behind him? No, too predictable. Off to one side, then, but which side?

There was a sudden explosion of movement in the air, and a wave of dark, fluttering wings engulfed him. Lavi shouted in terror and flung himself back, frantically trying to escape the cloud of Tease. He hit the railing and almost went over the side into the water, but he hooked his hammer around a nearby capstan and kept himself aboard.

Of course, that meant his hammer was occupied for a moment, and that was when Tyki chose to reappear and attack. The older Noah feinted once at Lavi's face and threw a brutal punch into his midsection, driving all the air out of his lungs and nearly pitching him over the rail. Lavi managed to turn his body with the momentum of the blow and slide out from between Tyki and the rail so he wasn't pinned, but that just put him right back into the cloud of Tease.

After his last experience with the nasty creatures, Lavi found it nearly impossible to fight the primal, instinctive fear that tried to turn his limbs to water when surrounded by them. He felt the first nibbles on his exposed skin and flailed wildly to drive them off, utterly panicked.

His distraction was nearly disastrous. Tyki stepped through the Tease and reached for the shaft of Lavi's Innocence, dark power already crackling around his hand and the shark's grin firmly on his face. Realizing what he intended, Lavi threw the hammer away from him, out of the Noah's reach. If it was destroyed, he had no doubt that it would mean an instant victory for the aspect of Noah within him.

Unfortunately that left him without any way to attack or defend himself. Tyki swept his legs out from under him, sending him tumbling to the deck. The Tease swarmed after him, and Lavi imagined he could almost hear them chittering with hunger for his flesh and blood. He shuddered and rolled away, hands scrabbling desperately to regain his Innocence.

He found it just as Tyki's heavy boot connected solidly with his ribs, driving the air out of his lungs yet again. Lavi wheezed and tried to swing the hammer around to strike Tyki in turn, but the bastard just laughed and danced away again.

Lavi was growing desperate. He already knew there was no way he could win this battle. Tyki had proved that the last time they'd fought. If the other Exorcists could help him, then maybe - but they had all they could do just to hold off the damned third level.

"You can't win, you know," Tyki said, smiling as if he knew he was echoing Lavi's own thoughts. "Not this battle, and not the war. Not even against yourself. You might as well give up now. I'll even make it fast and painless if you do."

"Yeah, and if I believed that, I _still_ wouldn't give you the satisfaction," Lavi growled. He felt the Tease nibbling at his newly-healed skin, and had to fight off another wave of panic.

Frantically he searched the futures, trying to find something, _anything_ , that would turn the tide of this battle. Preferably before the third level damaged Lenalee past mending. Lavi couldn't see Tyki's actions, but he could at least see the general aftermath of any idea he came up with.

Plan after plan revealed visions of death and destruction. Battling the Tease all the while, with Tyki's laughter carrying over the shouts and cries from the others, Lavi began to despair. Maybe there _wasn't_ any way to win. Had it all been for nothing?

He summoned a brief burst of flame to chase off the Tease, gaining himself some breathing room. Tyki became visible as the Tease lifted, and Lavi lunged towards him. The bastard actually had the nerve to stand there smirking at him, waiting until the last possible moment before he sank into the deck out of reach of Lavi's hammer.

Frustrated beyond belief, Lavi slammed the hammer into the deck anyway. It didn't make him feel any better, but it did at least keep the Tease off his back a moment longer.

If he could just pin Tyki down for one minute - thirty seconds, even! But the only thing the bastard couldn't melt right through was Innocence, and if Lavi could hit him with the hammer in the first place, he wouldn't _need_ to...

It struck him then with all the force of a blow from his own hammer. He knew what he had to do. There was one other thing Tyki couldn't pass through at will - another Noah. If he could just get close enough, _he_ could hold Tyki. There was one way. It would work, it _would_ work; it would save Lenalee and Kanda, and all the others...

...but not him.

Conflict threatened to overwhelm him. Lavi's self-preservation instinct howled at him to save himself, backed by more than a decade of training as a Bookman that said he _must_ preserve his own life at all costs. His heart shrieked at the idea of leaving the others to die. And over it all rose the voice of Noah.

It was as bad as the conflict over Allen, if not worse. Lavi hit his knees, teeth gritted and hands over his ears as if that would help block out the noise in his mind. He was so absorbed in his internal struggle that he hardly even registered it when the Tease descended on him again.

Save himself? Or his friends? Sacrifice himself and die an Exorcist, or flee through the Ark now and live... as a Noah?

Feeling like he was literally being torn in two, Lavi screamed.

* * *

Kanda heard Lavi scream; a helpless, hopeless sound that had nothing to do with external pain. He'd only heard Lavi make a noise like that once before - right before Lavi had nearly lost himself to Noah.

"Lavi!" Half panicked, Kanda ducked a strike from the Akuma and turned to scan the deck. It took him a moment to find the Noah. Lavi was crouched in a ball, huddled against the railing with a cloud of Tease around him and his Innocence lying abandoned at his feet.

" _La..._ " Kanda's second shout was cut off abruptly as the Akuma struck him from behind, Lenalee's warning coming seconds too late. Kanda was slammed into the deck and pinned there by the chains now wrapped completely around his body. They tightened, holding him in place and slowly squeezing the air out of him.

He heard Lenalee cry out, and from the corner of his eye saw the Akuma grab her out of mid-air. Bookman was already out of the fight, his Innocence rendered useless by the ephemeral chains, and Krory had gone over the rail and hadn't yet made his way back onto the ship. None of them could reach Lavi, assuming they could even do anything to help him.

Tyki was still laughing, but Lavi had stopped screaming, and that was a bad sign. Gasping for air, Kanda struggled to get Mugen at an angle where he could strike the Akuma. It felt like his heart was going to pound its way out of his chest in sheer panic.

"Okay, that's enough of that."

Lavi's voice had the same curiously flat, dead tone that Kanda had heard before. He did _something_ , and the Tease suddenly lifted away to hover over him uncertainly. Lavi stood, facing Tyki with a mocking smile. "Don't kill them too quickly, Tyki. Where's the fun in that?"

"Lavi! _No!_ " Lenalee cried, then choked as the Akuma squeezed her tighter. Kanda redoubled his efforts to free himself, but the more he struggled the heavier the chains seemed to get.

 _It has to be a trick,_ he told himself frantically. _He hasn't really given in. Not now, not after everything!_

"Ho?" Tyki seemed unimpressed by Lavi's apparent change of heart. "Do you really expect me to fall for the same thing again? Fool me twice, shame on me."

"What was it you wanted me to do to prove myself last time?" Lavi asked, tapping his cheek and pretending to think hard. "Oh, yeah, I remember."

His hand shot out, pointing straight at one of the ship's crew. The man screamed and clawed at his face, and then his whole body seemed to swell until it burst the skin. Something that resembled an Akuma but wasn't quite the same emerged.

Lenalee shrieked in denial, and Kanda felt as if ice gripped his whole body. If this was a trick, Lavi had just taken it much, much too far. There was no going back from this. His Innocence would surely turn on him the moment he touched it again. Lavi had fallen to Noah's influence at last, and there would be no bringing him back from the edge this time.

"Well, well." Tyki sounded surprised. "Impressive. I notice you didn't choose to turn one of your friends, however."

Lavi laughed, a derisive sound that chilled Kanda's soul further. "Have you ever actually tried to turn an Exorcist? It's harder than you think, and I don't have enough time to break one of them here and now." Kanda couldn't see Tyki from where he was pinned, but the Noah must have looked sceptical because Lavi shrugged. "Try it yourself, if you don't believe me."

"Hmm?" Tyki stepped into view, and smiled like a shark at Kanda. Kanda felt something _pushing_ at him, as if it was trying to squeeze him right out of his body. Then Mugen flared with green light so brilliant it was almost white, and the pressure released him abruptly.

The Akuma's chains loosened their grip as well, but Kanda was in no shape to take advantage of the opportunity. He lay gasping on the deck, fighting just to breathe, every ounce of his will concentrated on _not_ letting go of Mugen. His hand was spasming and his whole body was in agony, but the thought of Tyki trying that again and succeeding was more than enough incentive for Kanda to hang on.

"It appears you're right," Tyki said, shrugging as he dropped his hand. "A pity. That would have been ironically amusing."

"It's not a total loss," Lavi pointed out cheerfully. "I can always take one or two home with me, and play with them there. Given enough time and attention, they _will_ break. Especially once their Innocence is gone."

"Speaking of which, what about _that_?" Tyki indicated the hammer still at Lavi's feet.

"Mm." Lavi looked down at it with an expression of distaste, like a cat presented with rotten food. "If I touch it, I'll Fall. While that would _also_ be ironically amusing, it won't do the Earl's side much good." He grinned back at Tyki. "I know. Why don't _you_ destroy it? That way you know it's gone for real this time."

Kanda heard muffled cursing from Bookman's direction, and Lenalee was sobbing. Tyki looked delighted. "I believe I will," he said, stepping forward.

With an incoherent shout of rage and fear, Kanda scrambled over the deck to try to snatch the hammer out of Tyki's reach. He wasn't even sure what he thought that would accomplish; his subconscious simply insisted that if the Innocence was destroyed, they would lose any last hope of saving Lavi.

He made it perhaps two feet before something caught him and held him by the scruff of the neck. Weakened as he was, Kanda couldn't break free and ended up pinned to the deck once more. "Trying to make it better with a kiss again?" Lavi taunted him, leaning down to grin at him. "Sorry, Yuu. You're not gonna get a chance to keep that promise."

Kanda snarled up at him, but what he saw when he met Lavi's eyes left him stunned. There was no sign of the predatory, _alien_ expression he'd seen last time Noah had taken over. There was only Lavi looking back at him, determined and genuinely apologetic.

"Lavi..." Kanda gasped, and tried to grab for him. He didn't know what the hell was going on, but he had a very, very bad feeling about this.

At that moment Tyki picked up the hammer, the Innocence reverting in his hand as his dark energy crawled over it. Quick as the flash of his lightning seal, Lavi released Kanda and lunged for Tyki instead. He clamped one hand on the other Noah's arm, the other coming to rest on the shining Innocence sitting on Tyki's palm.

"Gouka Kaijin," Lavi said flatly, and smiled into Tyki's shocked expression. An instant later flame burst into being around them both, burning with all the heat and fury of a volcanic explosion.

Lenalee shrieked again, Krory cried out from somewhere, and even Bookman gave a shocked shout. Kanda realized he was yelling as well, loud enough that his throat ached with it, too stunned and numb to even know what he was saying. He was close enough to the fire that it sucked all the air right out of his lungs and left him feeling scorched inside, but that was nothing compared to what the two in the centre of the conflagration must be experiencing.

Tyki was screaming in agony and struggling to get away, but Lavi had wrapped both arms around the other Noah and was refusing to let go. Lavi alone made not a sound, though his teeth were clenched in pain and Kanda could _see_ the flesh burning from his body.

Something inside Kanda rebelled. After everything they had been through, after everything Lavi had sacrificed, Kanda _refused_ to let it end this way.

Summoning a reserve of energy he didn't even know he possessed, Kanda surged to his feet and threw himself into the flames.

The fireball closed around him, cutting off his view of the rest of the ship and roaring in his ears. Kanda's entire world was engulfed in flames, heat, and smoke. If he'd thought he felt scorched before, he was learning a whole new definition of agony now. He wasn't sure if he was screaming or not; it didn't really matter. He couldn't see a damned thing, but he knew Lavi and Tyki were still in here somewhere because he could still hear Tyki's cries.

He impacted with a body and pushed hard to send them both tumbling out of the flames, hoping he'd found the right Noah. They hit the deck hard, and when he could see again Kanda was relieved to find it _was_ Lavi he'd knocked free.

Behind them the fire flared once more, then went out as abruptly as it had begun. The sudden slap of cooler air against his burned skin redoubled the pain Kanda was in. He coughed and struggled for air, feeling like knives were being driven through his lungs with every breath he took.

"Kanda! Lavi!" Lenalee shouted, and Kanda was vaguely aware of the sound of staggering footsteps coming towards them. Lenalee dropped to her knees beside them, hands hovering over them as if she desperately wanted to touch them but was afraid of hurting them further. "Oh, my God, are you all right? No, never mind, that's a stupid question. Can I help?"

"Tyki?" Kanda croaked, and even that one word felt like he'd torn out his throat to say it.

"Fled," Krory answered as he moved into sight, dashing Kanda's hopes that they'd actually managed to kill the bastard. "He was badly hurt; the third level took him and ran."

Rough, gnarled hands braced Kanda by the shoulders. Fingers pressed hard against spots on his neck and upper spine, and it became a little easier to breath. "Help Lavi," he ordered Bookman, pushing the old man away when he tried to help Kanda sit up.

Bookman only frowned in response, and Kanda felt his temper boil over. He opened his mouth to say something scathing, and never mind how much it hurt to talk - but to his surprise, Lenalee beat him to it.

"What more proof do you need that he's still on our side?" she demanded. " _Help_ him, Bookman!" Her voice caught on a sob. "Please. I beg you. We've already lost Allen, I can't bear to lose Lavi, too."

"I wasn't going to refuse," Bookman told them irritably. "I'm just not certain there's anything I can do. He's burned too badly for the pressure points to even register."

"Miranda! Can't you do something?" Lenalee implored someone behind him. Kanda managed to turn his head just enough to see a stranger in an Exorcist's uniform leaning against what was left of the cabin wall. She looked unhealthy, pale and sweating very badly. A glowing disc spun just above her arm, a match for the giant one that hung over the main mast.

"I've got him on the Time Record the moment he entered the fight," the woman - presumably Miranda - said. "I hadn't activated it until now because I wasn't certain which record was the Akuma's. If I trigger it now he'll heal, but it will only be temporary." Her lower lip wobbled, and she looked ready to cry. "I can't save his life, you know that."

"No, but I can, given enough time to work with," Bookman said gruffly. "Do it."

She nodded, and the disc on her arm glowed brighter. More discs appeared over Lavi's body, spinning in place like a psychotic set of clocks. The horrible burns faded, leaving behind unmarred skin. Lavi's breathing became easier, and the lines of pain on his face eased. Even his clothes were returned to normal. With a start, Kanda realized his own pain had vanished far faster than could be accounted for even by the lotus spell, and when he looked down he saw more discs spinning over him.

When the damage was gone the discs faded. Bookman leaned in with his needles and began to work. " _Can_ you save him?" Kanda demanded after an agonized moment.

"If you stop jogging my elbow," Bookman said, pausing momentarily to glare at him. "Be quiet or leave."

Miranda looked even worse off than before, and Krory was steadying her. Lenalee was still kneeling next to Kanda, tears on her face but her smile full of fragile hope. "I don't know how you two got here, but..." She trailed off and shook her head, sniffling. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you both."

"That's no cause to get emotional," Kanda said, horrified by the tears. The last thing he wanted was to have to deal with Lenalee breaking down on him. "He can tell you the whole story as soon as he's awake."

"Why _isn't_ he awake?" Lenalee asked Miranda, worried.

The dark-haired woman shook her head. "The Time Record doesn't affect the mind, or you'd all forget everything every time I activated it. His subconscious is telling him that he's going to be in a lot of pain if he wakes, so his conscious is hiding from it."

"He'll wake soon enough," Bookman said absently. He leaned back and dusted off his hands, frowning. "For now, we should move him someplace a bit more sheltered, and let the sailors do their work."

For the first time Kanda realized that the ship's crew were giving them a wide berth, skirting the edges of the deck to stay away from the cluster of Exorcists. It didn't seem to be fear, but rather respect that kept them away. Whatever the reason, Kanda was grateful for it. He didn't want to have to deal with a bunch of ignorant laymen at the moment.

"Let's get you both down below, in the cabin," Lenalee said, offering him a hand up. He ignored it and stood on his own, then scooped Lavi up gently in his arms. Lenalee picked up Lavi's Innocence, which had returned to its hammer form and was lying on the deck where the scorched circle had been.

"Lead the way," Kanda said gruffly, glaring when Bookman raised an eyebrow at him. His expression dared the old man to make a comment about his care with the injured Noah.

Bookman shrugged, and headed for a door which presumably led below decks. Kanda followed carefully with his precious burden. He would never admit aloud how much Lavi had come to mean to him, but his actions spoke for him. Not for _anyone_ else would he have leapt into the flames like that.

He just hoped the idiot would appreciate it.

Tyki was still out there, and so was the Akuma, plus plenty more where they'd come from. God alone knew what consequences Lavi would suffer from what he'd done, turning that man into an Akuma. Perhaps sacrificing himself in the attempt to destroy Tyki had been enough to make up for it, since he hadn't Fallen when he'd touched his Innocence.

Despite all of that, however, Kanda couldn't help but feel like they'd won. They'd saved Lenalee and her Innocence, and proved where Lavi's loyalties lay beyond a shadow of a doubt. Even Bookman seemed to grudgingly accept that his former heir's status as a Noah might not exclude his position as an Exorcist.

Now all that was left was to win the war. Kanda smiled grimly down at the man in his arms. They might yet manage to pull off even that.

* * *

The world shifted and rocked gently beneath Lavi, though the surface he was lying on felt solid enough. Groggily he opened his eyes, and discovered that although the room itself stayed level relative to him, the lantern hanging from the low ceiling was swaying back and forth in time with the movement of the earth.

No, not the earth, he belatedly realized. The ship. He was on a ship on the ocean, the waves just high enough for the rocking to be felt. Memory came back all in a rush, and he gasped and sat up abruptly.

"Oh! You startled me," Lenalee exclaimed, jumping. She was sitting across from him, looking at him with a worried expression. "How do you feel?"

"I..." Lavi's voice was hoarse, and he coughed a couple of times. She offered him a cup full of water, and he drank it gratefully. His voice was much closer to normal when he tried again to speak. "I feel like shit, but considerin' I didn't even expect to be alive..."

"You shouldn't be," a familiar scathing voice said from one side, and he turned his head to see Kanda leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest and face set in a scowl. Only his eyes betrayed his true emotions; they were locked on Lavi, and he looked concerned and relieved. "That was the stupidest damned stunt I've ever seen you pull. And that's saying something."

Lavi smiled back at him, a little giddy. "It worked, didn't it?" he said lightly. He patted the holster on his thigh automatically, and frowned when he found it empty. "What? Where's..."

Kanda extended his hand, the tiny hammer resting on his palm, and Lavi took it from him. Its power prickled over his skin like a continuous jolt of static electricity, and he sensed it wasn't entirely happy with him, but it didn't seem inclined to cause him to Fall just yet. He sighed in relief, and tucked it into its holster where it belonged. "I don't suppose I actually managed to kill Tyki?"

"No such luck," Kanda said sourly. "But you chased him off, and the Akuma with him. I doubt we'll see them again any time soon."

"Noah heal fast, unfortunately," Lavi sighed. "Or fortunately, in my case. How _did_ I survive, anyway?"

"Kanda knocked you out of the fire," Lenalee explained. "Then Miranda used her Innocence to erase your wounds long enough for Bookman to save you, and the rest you're healing on your own."

"Yuu did _what_?" Lavi stared at him, floored. The other man shrugged irritably and looked away, but there was the faintest hint of a blush on his cheeks.

"Don't make such a big deal of it," Kanda said. "It was instinct, that's all."

Lavi smiled, a soft expression that was nothing like the manic grin he had once so commonly displayed. "Thanks, Yuu."

"Now what do we do, though?" Lenalee asked, worried. "We're still days away from Japan, and I don't think Miranda's going to last that long. The moment her attention wavers, the Time Record will end and the ship will fall apart."

"Thankfully, we've got the answer to that right here," Lavi said, tapping his chest. "I can take everyone who survived through the Ark. It won't be easy, but we've got enough Exorcists to handle it, I think."

"Can you take that many people?" Kanda asked, surprised. "I had to be touching you for you to pull me with you. There must be thirty people on this ship, or more."

"I said, 'everyone who _survived_ ', not 'everyone on the ship'," Lavi said softly, full of grief and guilt. "Other than the Exorcists, I don't sense more than three or four living souls on this ship. Everything else is..." he grimaced, searching for words to describe it. "It's like the presence of an Akuma, only a lot weaker. I think it's the virus I'm sensing."

"What?" Lenalee exclaimed, startled and dismayed. "But... but... Oh, no! The Time Record..."

Lavi nodded. "I don't understand how it works, exactly, but I saw several people get hit and keep walking when they should have turned to dust. Once whatever's keeping them alive is gone, they'll all get hit with it at once."

"The man you turned," Kanda exclaimed, straightening abruptly and staring at him. "I couldn't understand how your Innocence could forgive that - or how you could have done it in the first place, if you weren't really under Noah's control."

"He was already dead long before I turned him," Lavi confirmed.

"No!" Lenalee cried, and buried her face in her hands. "No, no, I can't stand this! Why must so many people die! Why can't we save _anyone_!"

Lavi's foresight warned him where this could lead; Lenalee might have survived the battle with the third level thanks to his and Kanda's intervention, but her spirit was a delicate thing. If it was crushed completely, she would be just as useless as if she'd lost her Innocence.

He caught her hands and pulled her into a hug. "I'll tell you a secret," he murmured into her ear as she sobbed and clung to him. "Allen's alive."

That was possibly the one thing that could have caught her attention and dragged her out of her incipient depression. She pulled back and stared at him, eyes wide and shining with tears. "What?"

He nodded. "He's alive, with the Asian branch right now," he said. "And there's a chance he'll even meet us in Japan, though I'm not sure how exactly." He shrugged, and smiled. "So, wipe those tears off your face. Y'don't want him to know you've been crying. Y'know how he is, he'll just fuss over you."

She laughed weakly and scrubbed the tears from her face, then leaned over and hugged him again. "Thank you," she said. "For everything. It must have been so hard on you! I don't think I'd have had the strength to do what you did."

"Huh?" Lavi blinked at her, confused. "What'd I do?"

"Going undercover with the Noah," she said, as if it should have been obvious. He made a startled noise, and she smiled up at him. "Brother told me, after you left his office that night. He made me swear on my life not to say a word to anyone."

" _That's_ why you were so insistent on seeing him before you left," Kanda said with the air of a man who'd just had a revelation. He turned on Lavi. "Did _everyone_ know but me?"

"Hey, this is the first I'm hearing of it!" Lavi protested. It did explain a few things, though. He'd wondered why he'd never seen a future where his defection sent Lenalee over the edge, given how very fragile she was about things like that.

She nodded. "Yes, but I ended up being late. I wanted you to know that at least a few of us still believed in you, no matter what," she added to Lavi. "But I couldn't exactly tell Kanda to pass on the message."

"I should hope not!" he exclaimed. "That would have ruined everything. But we can talk about it later. You need to go round everyone up, and bring them to the main deck so we can get out of here. From what I can see, Miranda ain't gonna last much longer, and we need to be gone before she breaks under the strain."

Lenalee nodded and jumped to her feet, hugging him yet again before running out of the room. Lavi sighed and pushed himself to his feet as well. The cabin was tiny, as rooms on ships tended to be; that put him easily within reach of Kanda.

The other man promptly reached out and punched him in the chest. Hard. "Ow! Hey, what was that for?" Lavi asked, wide-eyed.

"For making me think you'd actually given in to Noah," Kanda snapped.

Slowly Lavi smiled at him. "So, does that mean you're still gonna stick with me, so you can keep your promise to kill me if I do?" he asked hopefully.

Kanda glared at him, and there was far more heat in his eyes than could be accounted for only by his anger. "I'm not even _close_ to paying you back for everything you put me through," he said. "Especially after the stunt you just pulled."

Remembering just what Kanda had already demanded as partial payment on that debt, Lavi shivered. "So I guess that means it wasn't just a one time thing?"

He saw it coming, so he wasn't surprised when Kanda growled and grabbed him by the arm, spinning him around to pin him to the cabin wall. What did surprise him was the vision that swept over him a moment later, of slick skin and heated flesh, and cries of pleasure so intense it was almost pain.

"Are you fucking _kidding_ me?" Kanda said, his voice jerking Lavi back to the present. "I thought that damned vision of yours was done with!"

"Different vision," Lavi told him, his voice husky and the smile on his face big enough to swallow his hammer. That one vision soothed his fear that they would never have a chance to be together again, and that made him feel a whole lot better about everything.

"Don't worry," he added. "It's gonna take you a long time to make me pay you back for everything. 'Specially since this is hardly gonna be the last of it." He'd just have to make certain to stay one step ahead of Kanda's mental tally.

"Idiot," Kanda said, but he was blushing again. Then to Lavi's extreme delight Kanda leaned in and kissed him, fast but hard, before pulling away entirely. "Now make yourself look human. Nobody was paying much attention in the fight, but if you want them to be willing to follow you through the Ark..."

"Yeah, good idea," Lavi said. "Wonder if Krory has an extra uniform jacket I could wear, that'd probably help, too." He closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment, and when he opened them again he could see that his hands were the pale colour of his true self.

"Oh, damn it, I don't have my eyepatch," he realized, exasperated. "Oh well. Maybe they won't notice. We're not gonna have a whole lotta time to stand around gazing into each other's eyes, anyway."

Kanda was staring at him, looking shocked. Lavi cocked his head. "What? Did I miss something?" he asked, concerned. He reached up and touched his bare forehead, checking to make certain the Crown of Thorns wasn't still showing. To his relief there was nothing but smooth skin beneath his fingertips.

"You..." Kanda started, but couldn't seem to finish the sentence. He looked around quickly, then growled and unsheathed Mugen, activating it so that it shone silver. "Look."

He angled the blade so that Lavi could see part of his face in it, like a mirror. Lavi was about to ask what the hell he was on about, when he realized just what he was looking at. "They're both green," he said, as shocked as Kanda had been a moment before. "Yuu, both my eyes are green!"

Deactivating his Innocence, Kanda sheathed it again. "Maybe you've finally gotten some control?"

"Maybe," Lavi agreed, startled all over again by the thought. "Or maybe Noah finally realized how much I'm willing to sacrifice to keep myself out of _his_ control. He's being awfully quiet. I won't do him much good if I'm dead, after all."

He smiled, ecstatic. Maybe it really was possible for him to control his Noah after all. "C'mon, Yuu, we're running out of time," he said cheerfully. "Let's go save the world, before Noah gets bored and starts bitching at me again. Allen's prob'ly waiting for us." He caught Kanda's hand and dragged the other man bodily out of the room, though Kanda didn't resist much. He also didn't attempt to shake loose of Lavi's hand, which made Lavi feel like he was walking on air.

"Idiot," Kanda repeated, but there might have been the ghost of a smile on his lips when he said it.


End file.
